Table 4.

Domain 2. Explanations: antecedents to phubbing

Theme	Subtheme	Representative quotation
Person-centered	Internal locus of control	I turn off notifications for a lot of things. So that it’s not popping up other than maybe for work stuff; for everything else, notifications are turned off. (12U)
	External locus of control	I started messaging someone else when my fiancé and I were out for a thing and I’m like, man, I go to stop being on my phone, and then, thankfully, it died. (01U)
Principle-centered	Responsibility to patients	It wouldn’t be appropriate if the patient makes an appointment and comes to see us. It’s time we’ve allocated for them. Looking at the phone then, rather than looking at the patient, it just wouldn’t be right. (10T)
	Respect for authority	I would definitely phub my very close friends, my brother, my wife, my parents. But I’m more careful around people I respect and communicate with, like fellows or professors. (04T)
	Empathy	I get annoyed when other people do it, so I think I have a fairly conscious effort in terms of not doing it. But if I do end up doing it, I like to think I catch myself. (03U)
Emotion-centered	FoMO	We have a system on our phone from work… If we get a message from there, you are prompted to look at it because something could be happening. Has something happened to my patient? You know, you cannot always ignore it. (01U)
	Social anxiety	When I feel socially anxious, I give myself to my phone, I retreat. (04T)
	Boredom	There isn’t just one trigger. In many cases, it can be simple boredom. Especially in a crowded environment, and when the topic being discussed might not interest me. (07T)
	Escapism	If I don’t want to talk at that moment, turning to my phone is an avoidant behavior (10T)
Economic/Utilitarian	Attention economy	I think there’s also a slight competitive drive to it, in the sense that, like, I know these companies are trying to win my attention, and so trying to defeat them a little bit on their turf, on their wily ways, becomes a bit of a game for me. (05U)
	Risk/benefit calculations	If I’ve decided that if a lecture, for example, is not engaging or high yield, I am more likely to tune out and may resort to my phone. If the speaker is engaging or is giving high yield information, I’m unlikely to do so because that might offend them. (06U)