nomophobia

[ noh-muh-foh-bee-uh ]

noun

, Psychology.

1. anxiety caused by being without access to a functioning mobile phone:

   One contributor to our nomophobia is the reliance we have on our phones for creating, storing, and sharing personal memories.

Other Words From

• nom·o·pho·bic adjective noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of nomophobia¹

First recorded in 2005–10; no ¹( def ) + mo(bile) ( def ) + phobia ( def )

Example Sentences

Coined in 2009, nomophobia is short for “no mobile phone phobia,” an irrational fear of not having your phone.

From Washington Post

We probably didn’t need a study of 495 Portuguese young adults to confirm that “nomophobia” is a real thing - you know, the anxiety that accompanies a missing or dead smart phone.

From Washington Times

A somewhat ungainly word came into being a decade ago: nomophobia — short for no mobile phone phobia — meaning a fear of being without one’s phone, or at least without juice or network coverage.

From New York Times

They’ve been so successful that there’s even a term for fear of being without your cell phone, “nomophobia.”

From Scientific American

As Cambridge explains, the fact that nomophobia was the chosen word indicates that readers are familiar with it, or at the very least, can relate to it.

From Salon