‘Nomophobia’ crowned as People's word of 2018, but what does it mean?

Los Angeles, Jan 2: 'Nomophobia' has been named as Cambridge Dictionary's word of 2018. According to a blog post by Cambridge Dictionary, fans of online Cambridge Dictionary voted for the word that they believe best sums up the year 2018.

The dictionary defines the word as "a fear or worry at the idea of being without your mobile phones or unable to use it", a phenomenon which all of us can relate to even though we might not have heard the word before.

Nomophobia's earliest known use was in 2008 by YouGov researchers, in a report commissioned by the UK Post Office. Eventually, it began to appear in UK media and has since spread around the globe. Earlier this year, it was added to the online Cambridge Dictionary.

While nomophobia is not a scientific term, it's one that has become increasingly popular among researchers in recent years as technology addictions are now more prevalent than ever before.

The word Nomophobia was selected from the list of three other words, put out by Cambridge dictionary calling for people's vote on social media. It must be noted that Nomophobic is not a scientific term, however, over the years, has gained popularity among researchers due to technological advancement.