Word of the week: nomophobia

May 17, 2016 at 6:16PM

Definition: Anxiety produced by not having one's phone (no-mobile phone-phobic).

Sample usage: "She's so nomophobic she has a 40-foot charging cord so she can top off the battery while vacuuming."

Popularity: It's a real condition, proposed for the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. One of the symptoms is "trembling" caused by "low battery." Critics — OK, one guy who wrote the Wikipedia entry — said, "It is arguable that the word 'phobia' is misused and that in the majority of cases it is only a normal anxiety." Perhaps, but if you get hives when you're away from your phone, you might have a problem. Quick, Google "hives." No! You can't! You don't have your phone! ARGHHHHHHHH!

JAMES LILEKS

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