залипать в телефон

10:09 Mar 8 

I'd have gone for your answer if I just wanted an idiomatic phrase to express the fact at hand, i. e. that the person is being one with their phone in a way people may disapprove of. As I said, my question was rather about an altered state of concsiousness that person is in at that time, like that kid in the metro who's standing there, glued to his phone, watching TikTiks and never noticing that he's obstructing the doorway and people are shoving him around to get out (some particularly bad examples I've seen involved kids). Does that state have one or more widely used slang names in English? I guess it doesn't. Some of my Russian versions were also technical (сидеть, уткнуться) but most of them reflected that state in their own ways. The answer I picked wasn't full of idiomatic language; it just offered an interesting turn of thought. Plus, all the answer were serious, so "the biggest smile" factor didn't work

09:32 Mar 8 

It depends on where it is used? Even "addict, zombie" options would work in its context. So you can't say which one is correct and relevant without its context. Even if you invent a term, it should differ depending on where you are using it.

09:23 Mar 8 

And I know what "wraith" means but it was interesting to find it in such a context; as I wrote, zombies were already on my radar. It's not that I'll use the selected answer for anything, or maybe I'll use all of them. I could have gone for "no acceptable answer" for reasons mentioned in the comments. Some of the Russian verbs I listed are not in dictionaries either, and there can be more (like морозиться / вымораживаться / отмораживаться в телефоне), which people, at least those whose language use philosophy is similar to mine, will understand readily

03:59 Mar 8 

Phonewraith is not in any dictionary, and no one knows what it means.

02:19 Mar 8 

Glued to one's phone is not just "potentially usable", it is LITERALLY what people say about someone who is on the phone all the time. "Phonewraith" is a lovely concept but it's something that JJ Shaw has invented himself, as he says. So it depends on whether you want a new term or you want a term that is in common usage.