Nomophobia – Have you ever experienced anxiety if you don’t bring your phone when you go to work, school, or anywhere else? This anxiety can occur in the form of an increased heart rate or increased blood pressure.
Anxiety due to separation, even temporarily, with phones and devices in general is common to many people. They seem attached and want to maintain that attachment. So that when they separate, their souls are affected.
Nomophobia
Experts call this symptom as nomophobia. Nomophobia based on etymology comes from the words no, mobile, and phobia. So that nomophobia is interpreted loosely as the fear of parting with phones (mobile).
Nomophobia occurs when a person becomes dependent on phones. He/she has a special relationship with the cellphone, so it is quite difficult to be separated from him.
Nomophobia sufferers do not only attacked in the emotional side. They suffers blood flow and heart rate, this symptom of anxiety sometimes makes the sufferer sore in the neck. There are even cases where the sufferer has difficulty working or studying when away from the cellphone.
The unhealthy relationship with the device turned out to be due to the sufferer’s own habits. To find out the cause, the research team conducted a survey of 201 students in South Korea aged 18-37 years.
The respondents were asked to answer questions about positive memory, daily phone use, and behaviors and emotions related to their devices. It turns out that many people think of their phones as part of “self-extension” and are tied to these devices, especially when these devices are used to store, share, and access personal memories that describe their identity.
Causes of Nomophobia
There is a reason nomophobia occurs in someone. Because a person’s relationship with his phone sometimes has a special purpose that is not replaced by other objects, even other humans.
Phones have the ability to connect users with other people, both through conventional cell phones and social media. Phones also store a lot of personal information which makes them missed and often opened by users.
These things make the user with his cell phone have a special relationship that can be difficult to tell. But what can be felt is anxiety when the nomophobic sufferer is away from his phone.
Nomophobia Diagnosis
According to the researchers, nomophobia sufferers are mostly women. This is because women use the social functions of cell phones more than men who use them to find information and games.
However, both men and women when suffering from nomophobia will have the same symptoms. To diagnose a nomophobia sufferer, you only need to see if someone is excessively anxious when parting with their cellphone.
Because when you just feel anxious as usual, it’s only natural. Yes, who doesn’t worry when they leave their cellphone? Because there may be missed opportunities, the boss calls, or old friends invite them to hang out.
What to watch out for is if you have experienced the following things with your phone.
Smartphones interfere with sleep patterns
Poor quality sleep is a common symptom of high levels of anxiety. Usually, people use their phone as an alarm clock.
Affected by the sound from the smartphone
The sound from a smartphone as a marker of email or social media notifications can distract from your concentration and the desire to look at your smartphone. This condition can actually increase stress and anxiety. For people who have a high level of anxiety will tend to be disturbed by various sounds.
Too dependent on smartphone devices
Although phone can make it easier for us to carry out various activities, from ordering tickets to searching for addresses, this habit actually limits your freedom.
To deal with this kind of anxiety, I have a good read for those of you who are worried about having anxiety symptoms like nomophobia above.
Stay health.
