Nomophobia: A Modern Fear – No Mobile Phobia

Have you ever experienced discomfort, nervousness or anxiety – when you couldn’t find your smartphone? when the battery on your phone becomes alarmingly low, or Do thoughts of being out of network coverage for a few hours stresses you?

What is Nomophobia

If you are facing these symptoms, you are possibly suffering from Nomophobia or you can say “No Mobile Phone Phobia”, a fear of being with no phone or being unable to use your phone for some reasons.

We rely upon on our gadgets for knowledge and connectivity, so it’s common to fear about losing out them. But many people become habitual to constantly check out their phones, that’s so persistent and serious that it affects their day-to-day life.

How it affects our brain?

We are being too much hooked to technology. When we start making use of a creation of technology, like our smartphone, we begin to like it and the discharge of dopamine in the brain produces a behavioural modification for it. This results in dependency on it and fear for losing it or being without it.

Results of numerous studies evinced that nomophobia is on the rise and it is so powerful that people felt anxious when they didn’t have their mobile phone, had a dead battery, or had no network, particularly among teens.

During a study, the researchers make use of a technology known as magnetic resonance spectroscopy to record the motion of biochemicals in teenagers’ brains. The experts explored a chemical which is concerned in motor regulation and vision process and controls brain function. Excessive GABA can cause anxiety, according to Deniz Unay.

They also noticed levels of glutamate-glutamine, a neurotransmitter that leads to arousal in brain neurons or nerve cells and the amount of these chemicals in the brain affects emotions and cognitive ability of a person. If these chemicals are unbalanced then it leads to depression, anxiety and addiction.

During the research, the amount these two chemicals in participants depicted that the brain changes due to addiction of phones. In this whole process, the experts observed how GABA reduces brain functioning. Consequently, the participants could pay less attention to anything and had low control over themselves. If you a person is addicted to his phone then his ability to focus is being destroyed. Further added, the participants got depression, anxiety, impulsivity and insomnia.

According to the results, this is a tensed situation, as nomophobia is on the rise. The excessive use of phone and negative brain alternate are connected, said Deniz.

Studies on Nomophobia

A study was conducted in 2010 by the UK Post Office, to see and find out the anxieties smartphone users suffer from. Around 53 per cent of users in Britain become anxious when these people lose their phones, phone battery drained or run out of credit, or when they have no network coverage in their phones.

According to reports, around 58 per cent of men and 47 per cent of women has become victims of Nomophobia. Also, 9 per cent of people feel stressed when their phones are switched off. The data of 2,163 people. Around 55 per cent of people were in touch with friends or family. This was the main cause to make them anxious when these people could not use their phones to keep in touch with their family or friends.

In the U.S., Nomophobia has gotten worse…

65 percent people, sleep with or next to their phones. This is on higher level in college students. 34 percent revealed that they answer their phone during intimacy with their partner. People there, prefer to roam around without shoes for a week but can’t leave their phone. More than half of the people confirmed that they never switch off their phone. 66 percent of adults are nomophobic.

Warning signs

The helplessness to turn off your mobile phone
You feel nervous when your phone battery gets low or drained.
You can’t go anywhere without your mobile phone
Repeatedly checking your phone for missed calls, messages, or emails
Fear of being unable to connect to a cellular data network
Take a break to overcome Nomophobia
Keep your phone away and try to have face-to-face interaction
Focus on real world not on virtual reality
Replace your mobile phones with more positive and productive things
Live in the moment, not merely physically but mentally too

Treatment

There are different therapies for nomophobia such as interpersonal counseling, CBT and aversion therapy. Exposure therapy can be used in the treat to expose the person to his phobia and slowly move to reality of the situation. Also, mindfulness is another way to reduce nomophobia symptoms, especially in women.

Self – help

One of the easiest but still not easy treatment for nomophobia is self-help. The professional can help the patients to learn the control of their behavior before their phone controls them.

There are few ways to help your self:

Timing is important:

You can control yourself from checking your phone for a few hours daily, especially at night or before going to bed.

Avoid checking Notifications frequently:

A person who keep looking at the app notifications, encourage to turn them off. The more you concentrate on notifications, the more drawn you will be to your device and of course you are more likely to be in a stressful situation.

Decluttering is helpful:

If your phone is packed with photos, apps or games, then it can be an easy way to explore the feelings linked with deleting some of stuff. This provides a decluttering process of both your phone and your mind.

Conclusion

We are social creatures – and we develop on human communications. Our mobile phones can’t reproduce this, so if you think you’re spending too much time on your mobile phone, it’s probably that you are. Even if you don’t feel like you have Nomophobia or an addiction, try to stay away from something at the first sign of dependency is the best way to put a stop to it from growing. Spend time with your family and enjoy it.