Are your friends ‘phubbing’ you?

2024

phubbing

Let’s say that you went somewhere with your friends, perhaps on a Saturday night to have a nice dinner all together. You really hoped to catch up with them after a long week of work. And there it is: that friend who is constantly staring at the phone and never at you, not really taking part in the conversation because he/she is busy sharing posts on Facebook or tweeting how #boring the evening turned out to be. Well, that friend is ‘phubbing’ you.

‘Phubbing’ is a neologism used to refer to ‘phone snubbing’, meaning you are more focused on what’s happening on social media rather than around you.

“Given that in today’s society, use of cell phones has increased significantly, it is safe to say that phubbing will continue to be a potential problem”, says Maddy Ryan, a sophomore at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, who wrote a very interesting article to give an idea on how youngsters and adults see this phenomenon.

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In line with this article, you might also be interested in our Neologism database.

 

Written by Maria Bregolato
Terminology trainee at TermCoord