The LA Times recently reported that a California addiction treatment center has begun treating its clients for “nomophobia” or “no-mobile-phone phobia.” Someone who is nomophobic might go to great lengths to avoid being without their cell phone, such that their relationships, health, and work deteriorate as a result.
The term was coined in 2008 when the UK Post Office commissioned an extensive survey of the anxieties of mobile phone users. Out of a sample of over 2,000 people, they found that almost 53% of mobile phone users get anxious when something goes awry (they lose their phones, run out of battery, or have no coverage).
There has been some push-back from the media questioning the reality of this new phobia. Much of the news coverage takes a sarcastic tone, like this one from the LA Times, that lists a series of questions that many would have a tough time saying “no” to. After describing the typical warning signs of this condition, the author asks, “Sound familiar?” Presumably hoping this will cause readers to relate their own experiences with those described by the treatment center’s psychologist.Doctors have also entered the fray, like Dr. Keith Ablow, who appeared on Fox News defending the reality of this diagnosis.
As a sociologist, the definition of a new phobia by medical professionals is a signal of broad cultural change. The creation of new psychological categories associated with cell phones suggests that old categories are no longer adequate to describe the problems that users encounter. I’m not qualified to say whether this phobia really exists or not in a medical and/or psychological sense, but does it matter? The tone of the news coverage says that many readers will recognize the symptoms of this phobia in themselves, and the (non-academic) study cited large numbers of people worried about being disconnected. Maybe the interesting question isn’t -is nomophobia real? But why do so many people seem to relate to the symptoms?
If 66% of people in the U.S. were suddenly diagnosed as depressed, would we ask – is this disease really real? Or would we ask, what the heck is going on in the U.S. to make this happen? Certainly, more empirical research on the distribution of these anxieties needs to be conducted. But more importantly, we should stop asking if these kinds of technological anxieties are real and start asking about how and why these technologies have affected our lives so deeply.
theoffbutton 