nomophobia
noun

- fear or worry at the idea of being without your mobile phone or unable to use it

- fear of being without access to a working cell phone

Cambridge Dictionary /  Merriam-Webster

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WORD ORIGIN

“Nomophobia”, an abbreviation for “no-mobile-phone phobia”, was coined during a 2008 study by the UK Post Office who commissioned YouGov, a UK-based research organization, to evaluate anxieties experienced by mobile phone users.

The study found that nearly 53% of mobile phone users in Britain tend to be anxious when they “lose their mobile phone, run out of battery or credit, or have no network coverage”. The study found that about 58% of men and 47% of women had the phobia, and an additional 9% feel stressed when their mobile phones are off.

55% of those surveyed cited keeping in touch with friends or family as the main reason that they got anxious when they could not use their mobile phones. The study compared stress levels induced by the average case of nomophobia to be equivalent to those of “wedding day jitters” and trips to the dentist.

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SMARTPHONE FACTS

- The latest figures show an increasing number of smartphone users year after year. In 2023, the number of global smartphone users is estimated at 6.8 billion.

- Smartphones are also the most popular electronic devices. The latest smartphone users statistics show that of all the devices being used today, smartphones are the most popular, used by 95.8% of all internet users.

- Reports estimate that the number of global smartphone users will continue to increase and hit 7.1 billion by 2024.

- The latest statistics on global smartphone users show that the penetration rate of these devices is the highest in the US—as many as 82.2% of the population there owns a smartphone.

- This is followed by the United Kingdom, with 79.8%, and France and Germany, with 78.8% each. Italy rounds out the five countries with the highest smartphone penetration rates at 77%.

- In emerging economies, however, smartphone usage drops significantly. For instance, just 55.4% of Brazil’s population owns a smartphone. This number falls to 35.4% in India. In Nigeria, fewer than one in five people (19.7%) are smartphone users.

Source: Oberlo Statistics

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“Speaking of NOMOPHOBIA, according to research, did you know that smartphone users touch, tap, or swipe their devices an average of 2,617 times a day?”

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