Phubbing is a term coined as part of a linguistic experiment by ''

Macquarie Dictionary The ''Macquarie Dictionary'' () is a dictionary of Australian English. It is generally considered by universities and the legal profession to be the authoritative source on Australian English. It also pays considerable attention to New Zealand ...

'' to describe the habit of snubbing someone in favour of a

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

. In May 2012, the advertising agency behind the campaign, McCann, had invited a number of lexicographers, authors, and poets to coin a

neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

to describe the behaviour. The word "phubbing," a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsphone'' and ''snubbing'', was first described by McCann Group Account Director Adrian Mills, who was working with

David Astle David Astle (born 9 November 1961) is an Australian TV personality and radio host, and writer of non-fiction, fiction and plays. He also co-hosted the SBS Television (SBS) show ''Letters and Numbers'', as the dictionary expert, in company with Ri ...

. The term has appeared in media around the world and was popularized by the Stop Phubbing campaign created by McCann.

Stop Phubbing campaign

The Stop Phubbing campaign site, and related

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page, was part of an elaborate public relations effort designed to promote the ''

'' of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In the media, the website was originally credited by an Australian college student named Alex Haigh, who had been interning at McCann and was subsequently hired. A film, titled ''A Word is Born'', describes the entire process and serves as an advertisement for the dictionary.

Phubbing in the media

The campaign was picked up by numerous media outlets, notably those in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The press reported on surveys showing statistics of the number of the people "phubbing", and published etiquette guides.

Research

In October 2015, media outlets (such as

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and

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) reported on a study by James A. Roberts, professor of marketing at

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

Hankamer School of Business, that was published in the journal "Computers In Human Behavior". The study consisted of two separate surveys of more than 450 U.S. adults to learn the relational effects of "phubbing" or partner phubbing. The survey found that 46.3 percent of respondents said their partners phubbed them, and 22.6 percent said it caused issues in their relationship. In an interview with

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

Health, Roberts said, "We found that the ones that reported higher partner phubbing fought more with their partner and were less satisfied with their relationship than those who reported less phubbing.". Phubbing has been linked to type of problematic social media use, as well as pathological internet use. This research suggests that phubbing may be a coping mechanism to help people to deal with their negative emotional states. Hence, making phubbing addictive in nature, and damaging based on repeated and sustained use.

References

{{Reflist Habits Etiquette Mobile phone culture 2012 neologisms

Stop Phubbing campaign

Phubbing in the media

Research

See also

References