Do you realise you are Phubbing?

Is there really a term to describe the uniquely 21st century phenomenon of ignoring the person in front of you in favour of your phone?McCann Australia and Macquarie Dictionary have launched an online short film that documents the birth of the word “Phubbing”, in conjunction with the launch of Macquarie Dictionary’s Sixth Edition.The short film, entitled A Word is Born, is the result of a journey that began at the University of Sydney, when a team of language experts first coined the word aimed at helping the world address this growing social problem, and to increase sales of the Macquarie Dictionary.Executive creative director of McCann Australia, John Mescall and group account director Adrian Mills devised the strategy in early 2012 with Susan Butler, publisher and editor of Macquarie Dictionary recruiting the team that created the word phubbing.The release of ‘A Word is Born’ celebrates the launch of the Sixth Edition of the Macquarie Dictionary, Australia’s national dictionary. The film, housed on a YouTube channel, takes the audience through the journey of the word from the moment of inception to adoption and is the first time this process has been deliberately filmed and documented.Butler said, the rise of phubbing as an original coinage has finally become a word that belongs to everyone.“Over the years people have often asked me ‘How does a word get into the dictionary?’ I explain that the word has to have some kind of acceptance in the community, an acceptance that seems to come immediately to some new words but is forever denied to others,”Mescall said through this campaign, the team wants people to fall back in love with words, and the very idea of owning a dictionary.“To our knowledge, this is the first time the birth of a word has been captured on film, and then tracked as it spreads throughout the world. We suspected this was a word the world needed and it’s been so gratifying to see the difference a single word has been able to make. Misuse of smartphones in social situations has been a problem for a while now, but it wasn’t until the world had a word to describe that behavior, that people really starting talking about the issue.”The campaign kicked off on 29 August 2012 when the website www.stopphubbing.com launched, introducing the message that ‘phubbing’ is a social scourge and people of all ages, all nationalities and either sex, offend at some point.The website and accompanying Facebook page were presented as the brainchild of 23-year-old Alex Haigh, an account executive at McCann.Global media coverage to date stands at 600-plus TV, radio, press and online news outlets.The word ‘Phubbing’ has reached more than 300 million people and sparked global discussion around mobile phone etiquette, including an article on smartphone artiquette published by The Herald Sun.