‘Digital detox’ an official word to describe those times when you completely abstain from all digital devices. Digital detox (n): a period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic devices such as smartphones or computers, regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress or focus on social interaction in the physical world:
Digital detox among other new words like “twerk”, a provocative dance move recently sampled by Miley Cyrus that has gone viral, and “selfie” a photograph taken of oneself using a phone, are some of the new words added to the online Oxford Dictionary. Ironically, these words can only be accessed from a digital device.
According to Spokes woman Katherine Connor Martin, The 150-year-old dictionary adds up to 1,000 new entries to its online version every year. In its latest quarterly update, words like ‘twerk’, ‘selfie’, “Digital detox” ‘unlike’ and a few others were added to reflect the increasing use of technology and social media.
She said the word “twerk” has been around for about 20 years and has generated enough evidence of usage for it to be added to its online dictionaries with U.S. pop star Miley Cyrus making headlines this week for her twerk dance on Robin Thicke at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Other words such as “unlike“,a verb in a social media context to mean withdrawal of approval and “fomo,” an acronym-turned-word which means a “fear of missing out” – anxiety that an interesting event may be happening elsewhere have also been added
“Omnishambles“, which originated from the British political comedy TV series “The Thick of It”, meaning a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations also made the list among the new entries.
Break free of your devices and go on a digital detox. Where do you go for a digital detox?
