Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Nomophobia

This is London (UK) reported yesterday on a newly recognized phobia.

Getting married, starting a job or going to the dentist have long been recognised as sources of great stress.

But it seems they are now matched by a new, peculiarly 21st century affliction - the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.

Millions apparently suffer from "no mobile phobia" which has been given the name nomophobia.

They have become so dependent on their mobile that discovering it is out of charge or simply misplacing it sends stress levels soaring.

Experts say nomophobia could affect up to 53 per cent of mobile phone users, with 48 per cent of women and 58 per cent of men questioned admitting to experiencing feelings of anxiety when they run out of battery or credit, lose their phone or have no network coverage.

I know people like this. My mom and I suffered very mild forms of it--more concern than actual phobia--on our trip, when we would need to make a call but couldn't. But we coped by just waiting to make the call later, so we're not the ones the researchers are talking about.

The researchers are talking about my daughter and her friends: young people who are glued to their cell phones.

My problem would be nowebphobia, the fear of losing my internet connection.

4 comments:

janice said...

I too suffer from nowebphobia. The cell phone, no so much...

Anonymous said...

Missy miss Miss Skye:
I believe that you should take it upon yourself to remember who it was who FORCED a cell phone on your daughter. Even though the intentions were noble and loving (we didn't want to find a daughter upside-down in her car in a ditch with no way of contacting loved ones or 911), it was still something to which she, your daughter, had no choice of accepting or rejecting. You would also do well to remember that fateful day when you were talking to your friend, the astro-physics major, and she found out that your darling daughter had finally become a cell phone junkie.
I'm sure you lie in bed each night, tossing and turning with dreadful thoughts and questions like: "Would my darling daughter have turned out to be such a nomophobe if she had never been coerced into being a cell phone user?!" and the like...

I think you should think twice before throwing around all these accusations of your daughter being glued to a tiny, portable wireless contacting device.

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

SkyePuppy said...

My anonymous daughter,

Ummmm....

Jacob said...

Cell phone (or mobile phone) I can live without. I despise text messaging. But yeah, to live without the internet would be like living without a vital organ. Not the heart or something, but something that might kill you after a day or two.