NOMOPHOBIA: NO MObile PHone PhoBIA
Sudip Bhattacharya, Md Abu Bashar, Abhay Srivastava, Amarjeet Singh, Sudip Bhattacharya, Md Abu Bashar, Abhay Srivastava, Amarjeet Singh
Abstract
The term NOMOPHOBIA or NO MObile PHone PhoBIA is used to describe a psychological condition when people have a fear of being detached from mobile phone connectivity. The term NOMOPHOBIA is constructed on definitions described in the DSM-IV, it has been labelled as a "phobia for a particular/specific things". Various psychological factors are involved when a person overuses the mobile phone, e.g., low self-esteem, extrovert personality. The burden of this problem is now increasing globally. Other mental disorders like, social phobia or social anxiety, and panic disorder may also precipitate NOMOPHOBIC symptoms. It is very difficult to differentiate whether the patient become NOMOPHOBIC due to mobile phone addiction or existing anxiety disorders manifest as NOMOPHOBIC symptoms. The signs and symptoms are observed in NOMOPHOBIA cases include- anxiety, respiratory alterations, trembling, perspiration, agitation, disorientation and tachycardia. NOMOPHOBIA may also act as a proxy to other disorders. So, we have to be very judicious regarding its diagnosis. Some mental disorders can precipitate NOMOPHOBIA also and vice versa. The complexity of this condition is very challenging to the patients' family members as well as for the physicians as NOMOPHOBIA shares common clinical symptoms with other disorders. That's why NOMOPHOBIA should be diagnosed by exclusion. We have to stay in the real world more than virtual world. We have to re-establish the human-human interactions, face to face connections. So, we need to limit our use of mobile phones rather than banning it because we cannot escape the force of technological advancement.
Keywords: NOMOPHOBIA; over-connection; ringxiety; techno-stress.
References
- IJIP. In. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, Volume 3, Issue 4, No. 82. RED’SHINE Publication. Inc. 2016:213.
- Jayakumar A. Break free from Nomophobia, drunkorexia [Internet]. . 2008. Available from: .
- Bragazzi NL, Del Puente G. A proposal for including nomophobia in the new DSM-V. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2014;7:155–60.
- Bianchi A, Phillips JG. Psychological predictors of problem mobile phone use. Cyber Psychol Behav. 2005;8:39–51.
- King ALS, Valença AM, Silva ACO, Baczynski T, Carvalho MR, Nardi AE. Nomophobia: Dependency on virtual environments or social phobia? Comput Hum Behav. 2013;1:140–4.
- King ALS, Valença AM, Silva AC, Sancassiani F, Machado S, Nardi AE. “Nomophobia”: Impact of cell phone use interfering with symptoms and emotions of individuals with panic disorder compared with a control group. Clin Pract Epidemiol Mental Health. 2014;10:28–35.
- Nomophobia. In: Wikipedia [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2019 Jan 25] Available from: .
- Nikhita CS, Jadhav PR, Ajinkya SA. Prevalence of mobile phone dependence in secondary school adolescents. J Clin Diagn Res. 2015;9:VC06–9.
- Bivin JB, Mathew P, Thulasi PC, Philip J. Nomophobia-do we really need to worry about? Rev Prog. 2013;1:1–5.
- My Name is Mo R, and I am a Nomophobe. CBS News [Internet] cited 2019 Jan 25]. Available from:
- Mick DG, Fournier S. Paradoxes of technology: Consumer cognizance, emotions, and coping strategies. J Consumer Res. 1998:123–43.
- Lepp A. The relationship between cell phone use, academic performance, anxiety, and satisfaction with life in college students. Comput Hum Behav. 2014;31:343–50.
- Walsh SP. Needing to connect: The effect of self and others on young people's involvement with their mobile phones. Aust J Psychol. 2010;62:194–203.
- Dixit S, Shukla H, Bhagwat AK, Bindal A, Goyal A, Zaidi A, et al. A study to evaluate mobile phone dependence among students of a medical college and associated hospital of central India. Indian J Community Med. 2010;35:339–41.
- Nomophobia | Revolvy [Internet] [cited 2019 Jan 25]. Available from: .
Source: PubMed