Friday, March 9, 2012

The Awkward Silence of Mobile Phone Addiction

"Some warning signs to watch out for are: obsessively checking for your mobile device, constantly worrying about losing your phone, even when it is in a safe place, never turning the device off, and anxiety when reception is lost. " Anna-Lysa Gayle of WTOP.com


While riding the bus to class on the North Dakota State University campus I was caught off guard by a growing trend. As I sit in the back of the bus and look forward, every single person was on their mobile phone, and they were not having voice conversations.  I continued to observe as the bus stopped and picked up another person.  The first thing that student did was sit down in the first open spot and whip out her mobile phone. Are mobile phones and technology making us anti-social?

Photo Credit: Alexandra Lund
 It is almost as if the students on the bus were avoiding interacting with others by hiding behind the screen of their phone.  Thank God for the extra-talkative bus driver or I would have gone nuts. Being anti-social is not the only side effect of mobile phone addiction. According to a recent article by Vicky Kung, of CNN, this addiction can now by classified as "nomophobia" which stands for "no mobile phone phobia."  I laughed a little at the name, as it reminded me of something to be included in a rap song back when I was in junior high. Unfortunately nomophobia really isn't a laughing matter.

As the popularity of smartphones grows, so will the cases of nomophobia.  People start to feel anxious, lonely, bored, and insecure without their main squeeze(their mobile phone). Adolescents and children seem to be hit the hardest, as their phone has become their security blanket, it has replaced their teddy bear, and has become their new best friend. If you take away your children's phones, would they know how to entertain themselves?

Anna-Lysa Gayle of WTOP.com explains that some warning signs to watch out for are: obsessively checking for your mobile device, constantly worrying about losing your phone, even when it is in a safe place, never turning the device off, and anxiety when reception is lost.

If you sleep with your phone, take it with you to the bathroom to entertain your 5 second visit, pull it out to check it numerous times while in class or at work, or completely miss the entire dinner conversation because you couldn't put it away, you may want to look a little closer into the topic of nomophobia.

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