Do you feel uneasy without your phone? Do you feel
uncomfortable when your phone is no longer in network? Do you check your phone
to see if it’s vibrating when it’s not? Does it bother you to turn your phone
off or on silent?
If you answer yes to the above questions then you may be
suffering from Nomophobia- the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. The
term is an abbreviation for “no-mobile-phone-phobia.” It’s the plague of the
24/7 online Y-Generation. Your usual stresses such as getting married, going to
the dentist, or searching for a job is no longer a source of stress, instead, being out of
reach of your phone is. This generation of people are living in fear of being
out of mobile contact. They have been so dependent on their mobile, that
discovering that it is dying or misplaced sends stress levels soaring. Due to
the rise of cellphone usage, psychological disorders have come up amongst the
younger generation. It’s even said that students are losing their hearing or
hearing false rings due to the high cellphone usage.
I know for one of my classes, my professor suggest that we
turn our phone off or switch to silent mode. Honestly, the silent mode makes people uncomfortable NOT knowing if they are receiving a phone call, text message, or e-mail. Even if
a ring were to go off, students would look at their phone to see if it was
their phone receiving the incoming notification. Is it addiction that has this
generation on edge? How long can you go without checking your phone?
Check this interesting chart out:
Not using your phone is one thing but imagine losing your
phone! Just the thought of it drives me crazy, how about you? I know when my
close friend lost her phone she simply stated, “Oh my god, I lost everything,
my phone is my life”. Now that statement is so sad yet so true nowadays. That’s the moment you realize how big of a
role your phone plays in your life. Without it, you feel so removed from the
world. With it, you feel so connected.
But, to avoid feeling that void in your life, you might want
to walk around with your charger handy. If you were to ask any FDU student if they're
carrying their charger, I bet it’s a high chance they’d say yes! This might even
be a great question for the survey I plan to conduct later in the semester. Anywho, having a low battery can also be a shocking experience for some. I know
some of my friends may post on Facebook or Twitter from their laptop or tablet,
“Don’t worry if I don’t answer, my phone is dead/off”. This is to notify friends to not get tense over
the not so immediate response.
I think it’s safe to say that our dependency on technology
has more downfalls than advantages. The Y-Generation uses their phones to
remember loved ones phone numbers rather than memorizing it as the old days. They
even forget about birthdays and anniversaries because they depend on their phone
to remind them. Back then, people genuinely remembered numbers and special
dates.
