Defining Nomophobia
Nomophobia is defined as “the fear of being out of mobile phone contact” (SecurEnvoy,
2012, para. 1). The term, nomophobia, is an abbreviation for no-mobile-phone phobia and it was
first coined during a study conducted in 2008 by the UK Post Office to investigate anxieties
mobile phone users suffer (SecurEnvoy, 2012). In order to refer to people with nomophobia, two
other terms were introduced and colloquially used: nomophobe and nomophobic. A nomophobe
is a noun and refers to someone who is afflicted with nomophobia. The term, nomophobic, on
the other hand, is an adjective and is used to describe the characteristics of nomophobes and/or
behaviors related to nomophobia