The Social Life: Go ahead and snub the phub

Picture this: You're out with friends or family when midway through conversation there's a beep or rumble. Out comes the phone and for the next however long the small device gets more of the person's attention than you do. Phubbing - the act of snubbing the people around you while using your phone. It's a lot more common than you might think.

When the Rotorua Daily Post quiz team was quizzing last week there was plenty of social interaction going on during the rounds - phones are banned of course to prevent any mischief going on. But once the answers were handed in, out came the phones to check for messages, send a quick tweet or check facebook notifications.

Phubbing is quite commonplace in my home, but it's a collaborative approach so you could say we cancel each other out. One of us plays Angry Birds or watches BMX videos while the other checks emails, facebooks friends and plays Four Pictures One Word.

There's a new movement of phone users - the Stop Phubbing campaign has started on Facebook and has more than 4000 fans so far. The page admins post pictures of celebrities seen phubbing - JayZ while at basketball with wife Beyonce for one.

The website stopphubbing.com has gone viral. Don't view it from your device though, a mother phubber message comes up, followed by this: Get off your mobile and view this website on your desktop.

If you do get online then you could print off a poster requesting people give you their full attention.

We asked readers on our Facebook page what they thought of phubbing and if it was something they were guilty of.

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  Do it ... sometimes.
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  Hate this.
• 
  Hate it with a passion.
• 
  Hahah i do this.
• 
  Hate, hate, hate it. It's just bloody bad manners!
• 
  I just walk away from anyone who takes or makes a call in my company.
• 
  Haven't experienced "phubbing" but get really frustrated when you visit a friend who answers the phone and then chats on for half an hour as if you're not there! Also get annoyed when parents think it's acceptable for their children to interrupt adult conversations!
• 
  Do it, but hate it as well. Try my hardest to concentrate and focus more on the people in front of me rather then a phone but have been found guilty of doing it.
• 
  It is the height of rudeness.