Why We Stop Checking Our Phones After No Response

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We've all messaged someone online. And during the middle of a back-and-forth conversation, they stop texting back. In the meantime, we may occasionally check our phone to see if that person has responded. Over time, when we do not get a response, our time in between check-ins increases. This is what we'd call an extinction response. When we are not reinforced with a text back, there's a decrease in the strength to check for it.

This is operant conditioning. According to an article on 'Verywellmind', extinction occurs when there's no reinforcement of the discriminative stimulus. The discriminative stimulus is what signals us to perform an action. So in this case, the discriminative stimulus would be the sound/notification of someone texting back. When we receive a sound/notification, it primes us to check our phone, thinking we'll get the reward of receiving a message back.

So the next time you are waiting in between text messages, count how many times you check your phone before getting a response back. 

 

Resources(s):

Cherry, K. (2023, November 15). How is extinction defined in psychology?. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-extinction-2795176

Comments

  1. Luisanny De Haza MarchenaJune 28, 2025 at 4:54 PM

    The example about waiting for someone to text back was very relatable. It makes sense that when we don’t get some kind of reinforcement, like someone texting back, we check our phones less often. It's interesting to see how psychological behaviors apply to our lives, and most of the time, we don't even notice them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Samantha DelfinoJune 28, 2025 at 6:18 PM

    This example is good! When someone stops replying, we check our phones less and less over time and that is called extinction in operant conditioning. The notification sound is the signal; discriminative stimulus that tells us to check for the message. Without the award, our checking behavior will fade.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brooke O'PrandyJune 29, 2025 at 5:39 PM

    I like how you used a super relatable example! We all definitely are guilty of checking our phones over and over waiting for a response, and relating it to operant conditioning was a great example.

    ReplyDelete

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