MRM Either Celebrates or Denounces ‘Phubbing’, We Still Can’t Tell

By Kiran Aditham 

We’ve never really heard the actual term “phubbing” bandied about, but you and I and everyone else knows just what it is, that being the “act of snubbing someone in a social setting by looking at your phone instead of paying attention.” Sure, we’ve all been guilty of it, but we honestly never thought there was a proper word for it..until now. Whether as a goof or well-intentioned, the folks at MRM Melbourne are trying to make “phubbing”–which unbeknownst to us is already a fixture in Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary–a part of the general lexicon to show how the English language is evolving.

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Call it an awareness campaign if you will, but MRM Melbourne has set up a site called “Stop Phubbing,” where you can scroll down to see a variety of handy infographics and other amusing visual narratives to show just how widespread the phone snub has become. Yes, there’s even a phubbing intervention form you can fill out to help those you feel are afflicted by this–not that it will do any good whatsoever.

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