网上查到“低头族”的译法多是phubbing（“低头族”的行为，对应的人为phubber）。实际上，“低头族”的翻译要根据具体情况而定，phubbing只是特定的一类手机沉迷行为，不能概括所有“低头族”。
Phubbing由phone和snub（怠慢）结合而成，既然是“怠慢”，就只能用在有被怠慢的人的场合。根据《牛津词典》，phub定义为：Ignore (one's companion or companions) in order to pay attention to one's phone or other mobile device。Cosmopolitan网站在一篇文章中给出了phubber的十大标志：
- You check your phone while you dine with others.
- You keep your cell phone in sight when spending time with others.
- You hold your cell phone in your hand when you're with other people.
- You pull out your phone when it rings or beeps — even if you're in the middle of a conversation.
- You've been caught glancing at your phone mid-convo.
- You check your phone for messages from other friends while you're in the presence of friends.
- You use your phone while speaking to friends.
- You've used your cell on a date.
- You use your cell phone to fill conversation lulls.
- You've used your cell in bed — with your partner right there next to you.
这十大特种中的每个特征都离不开社交环境，离不开other people。因此，phubber只是社交环境中、与他人相处时的“低头族”。一个人走在大街上也总要看手机的人不是phubber。这类“低头族”有两个和phubbing同样有意思的名字：smombie和petextrians。
Smombie是smartphone与zombie（僵尸）的合成词，把沉浸在手机里、完全不顾及周围环境、走路迟缓的人比喻为僵尸。《牛津词典》博客New Words板块将其定义为：a pedestrian who is distracted by their mobile phone or similar device。《麦克米伦词典》也收录了这个词，解释为：a smartphone zombie: someone who is so busy looking at their phone that they do something stupid like stepping out into traffic。关于smombie，有这样一段描述：
The other day, I watched from across the street as a pedestrian waited for the walk signal at a crosswalk. He was on his phone. The light turned green. Absorbed in his device, the man didn’t notice. The blinking red hand started its countdown. With four seconds to go, Mr. Device finally looked up and began to cross. The light turned red when he was in the middle of the street.
The guy was a textbook “smombie.”
Petextrian是把text“塞”进了pedestrian，意思是忙着发消息的行人。这种边走路边使用手机的行为被称为distracted walking，来自distracted driving，即开车时精力不集中，比如看手机。
无论是phubbing还是smombie和petextrian，这些词都没有被权威词典正式广泛收录，尤其是petextrian，它比phubbing和smombie更让人感到陌生。实际使用时，还是推荐phubbing/phubber和smombie，不过也有可能要向对方解释一下。
其他一些场合，比如地铁里的低头族，似乎没有一个专门的称呼。如果让笔者创造一个的话，或许可以借鉴petextrian，将passenger与screen，即电子设备的屏幕，相结合，得到passcreenger。这个“独门”表达诸位看看就可以。
比较直观，用起来也不受语境限制的“低头族”译法为mobile/screen addict，即手机/电子设备成瘾者。与mobile addiction意思差不多的一个词是nomophobia，也就是对没有（no）手机（mobile）的恐惧（phobia）。这个表达更有学术范儿。同前面三个表达相比，mobile addict和nomophobia更加平淡和严肃了一些，没有“低头族”这三个字、以及之前提到几个译法生动有趣。
