phub

English

Etymology

Blend of phone +‎ snub, coined by Adrian Mills at the McCann advertising agency as part of a campaign to promote the Macquarie Dictionary by creating a new word.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʌb/

Verb

phub (third-person singular simple present phubs, present participle phubbing, simple past and past participle phubbed)

1. (transitive, neologism) To ignore the conversation around oneself by focusing on one's smartphone.
   • 2018, Zizi Papacharissi, editor, A Networked Self and Love‎^[1], Routledge, →ISBN:

     Phubbing has been theorized to provoke conflict in romantic relationships because the partner being phubbed feels unimportant and deprioritized compared to the digital content delivered through their partner's mobile phone.

   • 2022, Lambert Deckers, Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental‎^[2], Routledge, →ISBN:

     Individuals who were phubbed during a conversation, felt less valued, less close, and less important to the individual who phubbed them.

Noun

phub (plural phubs)

1. An instance of phubbing.
   • 2020, Patrick R. Steffen, editor, Mindfulness for Everyday Living: A Guide for Mental Health Practitioners, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 93:

     Researchers have found that phubs damage relationships and increase dissatisfaction and depression. About 25% of couples have fought over phubs (Goldberg, 2018).

Anagrams

• PBUH