Phubbing is okay when restrained as to occasion

The word phubbing means ignoring the person you are with in favor of your phone. Many believe that our smartphones have become so deeply a part of our lives that they have started threatening our social lives.

The phubber phenomenon occurs when two or more people are in a social setting and interact with their mobile phone (s) and not the person (persons) they are with. We have all probably encountered or been a part of the phenomenon. We notice it as well when distracted drivers or pedestrians have so immersed themselves in smartphones as to disregard traffic and environmental cues to which they should pay attention.

A team of language experts assembled by McCann and Macquarie Dictionary first coined the word "phubbing" in 2012 as a way, they say, to help the world address a growing social problem and, at the same time, help the company sell copies and subscriptions of its new dictionary.