Oh for phubb’s sake, leave me alone | Barbara Ellen

While “phubbing” (snubbing people in favour of your mobile phone) has been around for a while, it looks set to become even more socially entrenched. Studies report that it’s affecting various aspects of life, from relationships, friendships and work, to people becoming ever more isolated from real-life interaction as they increasingly concentrate on their phones.

There are debates about whether people are natural “phubbers” or “phubees” and speculation that being phubbed drives anguished phubees deeper into social media to spread the pain. It also seems that men are more likely to decide that it’s fine to have your mobile phone out during a date, for a cheeky “phub”. Tut, tut, manners, gentleman, please! When women get friends to do the evacuate-the-date, fake “work emergency” call, at least they have the decency to make a big deal of fishing their phones out of their handbags.

It seems a bit late to start lamenting the metamorphosis of the human race into screen-fixated zombies whose brains and hearts hunger less for real human connection than a new, cute emoji. Anyone who has ever read Philip K Dick could confidently predict that it can only get worse.

Then again, looking at your mobile phone, or pretending to look at it, is quite useful when you wish to avoid being dragged into unwanted interactions. For instance, women travelling alone on public transport could be forgiven for using their phones as a barrier to unwelcome overtures. The phone screen has replaced the book as a way of saying “leave me alone, please”, without being overtly rude. Perhaps not all phubbing means that someone is a rude, desensitised, brainwashed idiot. Maybe, for men and women, sometimes it’s just a way of signalling a wholly human need to be private.