{"id":1082,"date":"2019-10-11T14:16:16","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T14:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webislove.com\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2020-08-22T18:43:27","modified_gmt":"2020-08-22T18:43:27","slug":"nomophobia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webislove.com\/nomophobia","title":{"rendered":"Nomophobia – Phobia That Destroys Humanity Click by Click (2020)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"nomophobia\"
nomophobia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The tech titans at Silicon Valley have forever changed how the world uses technology. They’re constantly pursuing ways to merge our daily activities with smarter devices, yet most of these giants are known to restrict screentime in their home. Because they designed it, they were aware new technology pose a risk of nomophobia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with the Mirror, a few years back, Bill Gates revealed that his kids had tech-free childhoods. They were well into their teens before they had smart phones – and even then, screentime was heavily regulated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A close inspection of the way tech giants raise their kids will show you that most are aware of the dangers smart mobile phones present. Even Reddit’s founder, Alexis Ohanian, plans on raising his and Serena William’s kid with screentime restrictions. And yet these tech giants are responsible for designing increasingly addictive technology. It reeks of irony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s like pharmaceutical companies who manufacture opiates. The government understands the ramifications of their drugs, so place restrictive regulations on them, to minimize the opioid crisis. Is technology creating a similar problem? Of course unlike opiates, no one (that we know of) has died of nomophobia. But is it affecting the lives of people, differently but no less dangerously? Technology, like opiates, has its merits. But are there dangers we aren’t attentive to? Keep reading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Nomophobia?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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By now, it’s not a surprising fact that people LOVE their mobile phones. What’s surprising is how psychologically attached people have become to these mobile devices. So attached that they develop an irrational fear of being without their phones. In other words, people are ascribing a greater importance of mobile phones to their lives than anticipated, hence the term NO-MObile-PHOne-phoBIA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term was actually coined in 2008 by YouGov, in the United Kingdom, while researching if anxiety disorders were caused by mobile phone overuse. YouGov found that 53% of the British population suffered some form of irrational anxiety when either their batteries or credit ran out, or when they had no network coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may seem ridiculous to treat nomophobia as a serious illness, but have you ever seen the fear people have when their phone’s not charged. A person can have several mini hearts when their phone falls inside water or on a pavement? And it isn’t necessarily the cost they’re worried about. Sure most premium phones are expensive, but we live in an information age, and it’s the loss of this information, more than any other thing, causes panic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Does it Affect a Person’s Daily Life?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Human beings are social creatures. And as social creatures, we’re driven by the need to create social bonds. Social media has taught us that we can connect with anyone, anywhere, through our phones. For those who have social anxiety, this can seem like a pretty good deal. The problem is when the mind becomes attached to the social interaction offered through these devices, especially to the detriment of physical social interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Images of people eating together, while still focusing on their phones spring to mind. This is so prevalent, most of those tech titans you saw earlier place phone bans at meal times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A person with nomophobia can be found taking careful, conscious steps to ensure they aren’t without their phones. Going camping to observe nature? Pack a solar panel to keep phones charged, plus an extra power bank – just in case. Need to travel to a location without broadband? That trip suddenly becomes meaningless. If people with nomophobia took care to plan their futures the way they planned for a power disruption, life would be so much more fruitful and innovative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To a person with nomophobia, a buzzing phone takes precedence over almost everything else happening at the moment, plus the conversation you’re having with them. Even when they try to be polite by dismissing the urge to look at their buzzing device – because it is a common pet peeve – you can almost see their souls leaving the conversation. Bottom line? This phobia can negatively affect people’s lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nomophobia Definition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Excessive mobile phone dependency, triggered by the fear of being without it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the medical community hasn’t provided an official definition for nomophobia, many experts agree it meets the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) criteria of a phobia. These are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n