There is a new term for this, which is nomophobia. It's not a medical term though, more of a joke term based on the words 'no mobile phobia'. New terms do often get made up like this - for example, from 'alcoholic' we then got 'shopaholic' and even 'chocaholic'.

According to recent polls over two thirds of people in the UK are afraid of being without their phone, and the figures are similar in other countries. However, you couldn't really call this a phobia. For many of us it's a very logical fear, as we often have important information stored on our phones, and more and more we rely on them to check urgent emails and stay in touch with our workplace. That's apart from the fear of not being able to contact your children, for example, if they need help.

Beyond these perfectly rational fears, though, some people have actually got so attached to their phones that they feel terrible not having them around or not having them on - even in a situation like an exam where you can't actually need it. In rare cases the fear could be so acute that you could almost call it a phobia.