In 2011, the Royal Mail Group (British Post Office), carried out a study to evaluate the degree of anxiety that users of smartphones without them. It turned out that a fairly high percentage, 58% of men and 48% of women, felt it when they could not use their cell phones. Based on these results, the study coined a new term to describe this behavior, nomophobia.
The term comes from the contraction between “not mobile” and “phobia” and refers to irrational fear that a person may suffer from not being able to use their smartphone for an extended period of time. Either because you have left it at home, it has a low battery or you are in a place with poor coverage or any other circumstance that limits or prevents its use.
In these situations, a person with nomophobia may feel restlessness, restlessness, anxiety, stress and even physical discomfort. Nomophobia is not considered a pathology, but it is evident that it is a behavioral disorder resulting from cell phone addiction.
Modern life makes us greatly dependent on these devices. According to the National Institute of Statistics, the 96% of households in Spain have mobile phones and 77% of people who access the Internet do so through these devices. In this context, it is logical to ask whether one is affected by this problem.
A person dependent on their cell phone to the point of nomophobia shows behaviors that can be identified:
- Constantly check your phone to check for new messages, notifications from apps and social networks, etc.
- He continues to use the phone when he is engaged in other activities in his leisure time. For example, being with friends or playing sports.
- If you leave home and have forgotten your phone, come back for it.
- Avoid going to places where there is no coverage.
- He is always looking for an outlet that allows him to recharge the battery.
- You lose hours of sleep by continuing to use your smartphone.
- Never turn off your cell phone.
- He isolates himself socially, as he prefers to interact with other people via cell phone rather than face to face.
How to prevent nomophobia
According to the European Institute of Efficient Intelligences, IEIE, users can practice several habits that reduce the possibility of being nomophobic and that require a certain degree of self-control that smartphones and their apps strive to torpedo.
These are putting on a digital schedule and fulfill it, practice full attention about what you are doing, leaving aside your cell phone, creating phone free zones at home, think twice before unlocking your mobile and evaluate if it is essentialand consider realistic goals with rewards if you want to reduce the time spent on it.