Smombie

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A (joking) warning sign
Woman using a smartphone in traffic

Smombie is a suitcase word from the terms “ smartphone ” and “ zombie ”. According to Langenscheidt, this refers to people who are so distracted by constantly looking at their smartphone that they can barely notice their surroundings.

Youth word of the year 2015

In 2015 the word was chosen by a jury on behalf of the Langenscheidt publishing house as the so-called “ youth word of the year ” in Germany. In an online vote preceding the election, it only occupied one of the lower places.

Since the word had not yet appeared on the Internet before the nomination for the choice of the youth word of the year, a debate ensued about whether the word would even be used in youth language. Perhaps it is a pure invention within the scope of the election.

Consequences in traffic

Health science research and experiments with the help of VR glasses have shown that writing text messages on a smartphone both increases the time it takes to cross a street and leads to a reduction in attention in dangerous traffic situations. In a cross-sectional study, it was also possible to prove that an increased frequency of smartphone use while walking is associated with an increased accident prevalence among these pedestrians.

As a potential cause of inattentive walking and accidents of Smombies in traffic was the psychological construct of the Fear of Missing Out (dt .: fear of missing something acronym FOMO) proposed. Study results show that the fear of missing out predicts both inattentive walking, the tendency to engage in virtual social interactions while walking and dangerous road accidents. These interrelationships could be demonstrated regardless of the age or gender of the test subjects. Potential dangers and warnings are overlooked or recognized too late. One possible aid should Augmented Reality - Apps as Walk and Text be that use the front camera of the mobile phone and transferred to the phone display. Statistically, most of the accidents are caused by teenagers and young adults.

In Chongqing in China and Hong Kong , special paths for cell phone users were created between 2014 and 2015. Separate sidewalks for cell phone users have also been created in the USA , Lithuania , Belgium and Japan . In German cities such as Frankfurt am Main (2010), Cologne and Augsburg (2016), floor lights or strips of light have been set up for cell phone users to reduce the risk of accidents.

Further designations and delimitation

In the English-speaking world, the term dumbwalking is used in addition to smombie , which has made it into the Cambridge Dictionary . The phenomenon is often related to a cell phone and internet addiction. The word phubbing describes the habit of using your cell phone while neglecting the people you are with in real life. The abbreviation nomophobia for No-Mobile-Phone-Phobia describes the (separation) fear of being inaccessible for social and business contacts without a mobile phone.

As a generation term, which mainly refers to Generation Z and young Generation Y , generation head down or in English also head-down generation or generally just generation smartphone is used.

Trivia

The science fiction author Ray Bradbury described this phenomenon in his books Fahrenheit 451 and Don't Walk Down the Quiet Streets as early as the 1950s .

Web links

Commons : Smombie  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Smombie  - explanations of meanings, word origins , synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Smombie" is youth word of the year , Tagesschau online, November 13, 2015
  2. ↑ a b Smombie: Youth word of the year that nobody knows? , The West, November 16, 2015
  3. ↑ Google searches for the keyword "Smombie" in 2015
  4. ↑ This term was previously only known to the jury: "Smombie" instead of "Merkeln" is youth word of the year , Meedia , November 13, 2015
  5. ↑ "Smombie" does not exist - it is an invention , Der Tagesspiegel , November 13, 2015
  6. ↑ Leah L. Thompson, Frederick P. Rivara, Rajiv C. Ayyagari, Beth E. Ebel: Impact of social and technological distraction on pedestrian crossing behavior: an observational study . In: Injury Prevention . tape 19 , no. 4 , August 1, 2013, ISSN  1353-8047 , p. 232–237 , doi : 10.1136 / injuryprev-2012-040601 , PMID 23243104 , PMC 3717764 (free full text) - ( bmj.com [accessed November 24, 2019]).
  7. ↑ Laura Chaddock, Mark Neider, Aubrey Lutz, Charles Hillman, Arthur Kramer: Role of Childhood Aerobic Fitness in Successful Street Crossing . In: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise . tape 44 , no. 4 , April 2012, ISSN  0195-9131 , p. 749-753 , doi : 10.1249 / MSS.0b013e31823a90cb , PMID 21986808 ( ovid.com [accessed November 24, 2019]).
  8. ↑ Hye-Jin Kim, Jin-Young Min, Hyun-Jin Kim, Kyoung-Bok Min: Accident risk associated with smartphone addiction: A study on university students in Korea . In: Journal of Behavioral Addictions . tape 6 , no. 4 , November 3, 2017, ISSN  2062-5871 , p. 699–707 , doi : 10.1556 / 2006.6.2017.070 , PMID 29099234 , PMC 6034962 (free full text) - ( akademiai.com [accessed November 24, 2019]).
  9. ↑ Markus Appel, Nina Krisch, Jan-Philipp Stein, Silvana Weber: Smartphone zombies! Pedestrians' distracted walking as a function of their fear of missing out . In: Journal of Environmental Psychology . tape 63 , June 1, 2019, ISSN  0272-4944 , p. 130–133 , doi : 10.1016 / j.jenvp.2019.04.003 ( sciencedirect.com [accessed November 24, 2019]).
  10. ↑ Dumbwalking. In: The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential. Union of International Associations , accessed July 14, 2020 .
  11. ↑ David Raven: World's first mobile phone walking lane for 'zombie pedestrians' addicted to texting. September 15, 2014, accessed July 13, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Beware the smartphone zombies blindly wandering around Hong Kong. March 2, 2015, accessed on July 13, 2020 .
  13. ↑ There are now sidewalks for smartphone zombies in this country too. Retrieved on July 13, 2020 (German).
  14. ↑ Alex Marshall: Japan enters the 'dumbwalking' era . In: BBC News . July 14, 2014 ( bbc.com [accessed July 13, 2020]).
  15. ↑ RP ONLINE: Protection from "Smombies": First cities set up traffic lights for cell phone users. Retrieved July 13, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Smombie: definition, meaning and what that has to do with traffic lights. January 20, 2017, accessed July 13, 2020 .
  17. ↑ DUMBWALKING | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Retrieved July 13, 2020 .
  18. ^ Contributed: 10 Ray Bradbury predictions that came true. June 7, 2012, Retrieved July 13, 2020 (American English).
  19. ^ Word of the Year: SMOMBIES. In: The Courier Online. Retrieved July 13, 2020 (UK English).