What is the English term for those who cannot part with their smartphones anywhere or at any time?

Question

Until a decade ago, people were chatting, reading books or napping in commuter trains and public buses. Today, almost everybody sitting beside you and in the opposite row of seats is holding a smartphone at nose level and absorbed in games, surfing websites, and tweeting in the train and bus. They are looking at their smartphones on the platform while waiting for their train to arrive. I occasionally bump into a pedestrian who is looking at their smartphone while walking on the street. This didn't happen with mobile phones. I don’t know whether it’s a social phenomenon unique to Japan or common to anywhere in the world. But to me, as someone who is in his eighties, it seems weird.

A Japanese TV programme described the ubiquitous phenomenon of those who cannot part with their smartphones anywhere or at any time “Internet dependence”.

What is the common English word to describe those who are heavily (or morbidly) dependent on their smartphones? Are they “Internet dependent,” as the TV calls them, “smartphone addicts,” or simply today’s normal smartphone users?

PS: There was an interesting article in connection with this question in the latest (November 26) New Yorker magazine under the title, “Is Internet Addiction a Real Thing? http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/internet-addiction-real-thing

I think “smartphone addict” is an archetype of "Internet addiction.”

Answer 1

The person is smartphone dependent or a smartphone addict. The typical "addict" is a teenager or young adult, between ages ten and 30. They are numerous in all affluent countries and in some developing countries as well.

Read Smartphone dependency: a growing obsession with gadgets

Are you smartphone dependent? What a typical addict tells us about this:

"I'll admit it: I check my smartphone compulsively. And the more I use it, the more often the urge to look at it hits me. Where? In the orthodontist's office. Walking my kids to school. In meetings. Even while making breakfast. Sometimes it is in my hand before I even know what I'm searching for. Sometimes I tap the screen absent mindedly -- looking at my email, a local blogger, my calendar, and Twitter". Health & Balance

Answer 2

In one of the linked questions, Hugo posted the following answer:

In an similar vein to idiot box, a derogatory name for someone who uses their mobile phone a lot is smartphone zombie.

As evidence, they provide Urban Dictionary a CNN story on smartphone zombies, and a Flickr collection of photos that uses the expression as its title. This article from november 2014 shows the expression is still in use by the media, although I've never heard it before.

In another related question, Manish introduces the term "nomophobia" (from no mobile), which refers to the anxiety some people experience when they don't have their mobiles. His source is wikipedia. That suggests "nomophobe" as a potential answer for your question. I also never heard this expression, although it has also recently been in media, in september 2014.

I tried google-trending the candidate expressions that seem reasonable, with little success. Below is the graph, "nomophobia" is the only term with enough hits to actually plot. The remaining terms are "smartphone addict", "smartphone dependant" and "smartphone zombie".

Answer 3

I like 'dependent' as suggested by Centaurus, but what about an alternative being 'reliant' as in 'smart phone reliant'.

Another alternative would be 'obsessive'.

more colloquial might be 'smart phone junkie' or 'smart phone nerd' - a little bit pejorative.

Answer 4

Colloquially, I've seen people who use technology to avoid social interaction referred to as square‑eyes.

Answer 5

Not everyone will get the reference, but you could call these people gargoyles.