Nomophobia: The Growing Addiction To Mobile Phones
Due to technological advances, social networks and the presence of the Internet on practically all mobile phones, we spend many hours of the day connected to the “smartphone”.
This causes that when we are left incommunicado, without a cell phone, we feel lost in this world dependent on new technologies.
Although the use of technology can be very useful, as it allows us to be constantly in connection with almost every corner of the planet, lack of communication can produce a feeling of anxiety that invades us and makes us long for the moment when we will be connected again.
The anxious and obsessive symptoms that we present when we are left without a cell phone have been recognized by psychologists, and this excessive and irrational fear of being without a smartphone has been named “Nomophobia”. The term comes from the English expression “no-mobile-phone phobia”. We will talk about this syndrome today, not only to focus on the negative aspects of new technologies, but also to try to reflect on the use we make of them.
The first study on Nomophobia
Many experts speak of Nomophobia as the new disease of the 21st century. Studies on this phenomenon began in 2011 in the United Kingdom, with an investigation carried out by the UK Post Office and the YouGo Demoscopic Institute.
The study involved 2,163 subjects, and the data revealed that 53% of mobile phone users in the UK feel anxious when their mobile phone battery runs out, they lose it or they are left without coverage. The study also revealed that 58% of men and 48% of women suffer from this disorder.
The study also concluded that the stress levels presented by people with Nomophobia were comparable to what a person may have the day before their wedding. In addition, 55% of the participants expressed “feeling isolated” when they did not have a cell phone.
What is a person with Nomophobia like?
There are many people who suffer dependence on mobile phones and are connected 24 hours a dayand experts think that the profile of the nomophobic is that of a person who has little self-confidence and low self-esteem, with a lack of social skills and conflict resolution, and who in his or her leisure time only uses the cell phone and seems unable to enjoy without it.
Regarding age, This disorder is more common in adolescents, since they have a greater need to be accepted by others and are more familiar with new technologies.
Symptoms
The symptoms that a person with Nomophobia may present are the following:
Education is basic to prevent this type of pathologies associated with the use of new technologies.
Nomophobia is another of the pathologies directly associated with the use and development of new technologies. Since smartphones emerged, more and more people depend exclusively on these devices and more and more users have developed this disorder.
Although adults can also suffer from this disorder, Children and young people are the most likely to suffer mental health problems as a result of dependence on new technologies.since they spend many hours connected and develop their identity on social networks. They are the “digital natives”; people who have lived since birth surrounded by technologies of this type.
Regarding this, the psychologist Jonathan García-Allen in the article “FOMO syndrome: feeling that the lives of others are more interesting”, comments that “education is basic to prevent this type of pathologies and must be done from an early age.” According to García-Allen himself, “The main problem is not the new technologies, but their pathological use, which can materialize both in addiction and in uses that can generate psychological problems.”
Therefore, the key is not to prohibit the use of smartphones by children and adolescents, but to make them understand the importance of the correct use of these devices and ensure an education that includes both the positive aspects of new technologies and the improper and pathological uses. In this regard, the prevention in the family environment and at school is the key element.
