The origin of the term phubbing is attributed to a campaign from the McCann Melbourne company. It is proposed to have originated in 2012 when grassroots groups started to promote so-called polite use of mobile devices. Many pundits have wrote stories about how people snub each other through technology use, and how businesses and public spaces are discouraging some kind of device use. For example, a restaurant or bar might put up a sign asking people to respect the atmosphere and be social in their real environment, rather than snapping, texting and tweeting their way through the night.