Nomophobia
I’ve been reading recently about a condition that has some destructive effects on individuals and our relationships. A number of tests have found it to have the following negative impacts:
panic attack
shortness of breath
dizziness
trembling
sweating
accelerated heart rate
chest pain
nausea
neck, wrist, and elbow pain
This addiction can also lead to one or more of the following issues:
lack of concentration
alienation from family and friends
decreased productivity
moodiness
loss of sleep
increased risk of injury or death from automobile accidents and other types of accidents
While there are drugs and other substances we ingest that pose great risks to us, this problem is not linked to anything like that. This problem is inseparably linked to something you may be holding in your hand right now. You may already be a victim of —
nomophobia
While this may sound like a joke of some kind, nomophobia has been determined to be a real problem. The Miriam-Webster online dictionary defines nomophobia as:
“fear of being without access to a working cell phone”
Please take a look at the graphic below. Do you see yourself in that picture?
I encourage all of us (yes, including me) to go online (briefly) and take one of the many “self-evaluation” tests available to help determine whether or not we are addicted to our phones (and other electronic devices). We might be unpleasantly surprised.
If you don’t want to take the time to do that, I’ve devised one fairly simple test. When your loved ones think of you, which of the following do they think of:
a person whose face “lights up” when loved ones walk into the room? or
a person whose face “lights up” from the light emitted from an electronic device you are constantly “checking?”
If we find that we are “nomophobic,” there are also some online solutions. If you don’t want to take the time to read or implement them, I have a few solutions to suggest.
- That ring, alert, or whatever can actually be ignored without affecting the rotation of the earth in the least.
- All of our devices have a switch that can actually turn the thing off. Maybe we need to use that feature more often.
I think I’ll go talk to my wife now – in person!
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
