Nomophobia, the Fear of Being Mobile-less

Your phone's alarm buzzes. You wake up. Grab the phone, stop the alarm, check email – nothing important. Call X, set up a meeting for later. Smile. Receive a call from the office – they need you earlier today. Frown. Wash, eat, dress, call Y, send email to W, send cute MMS to Z and decide to call her/him later to say "Happy Birthday". Put the phone in your pocket and get out of the house.

The above introduction can represent the beginning of an ordinary day for many normal people in the world, both women and men. Mobile phones have become "a part of us" for some years, this is obvious.

But what if you lose your phone? What if it doesn't work anymore, or you're in an area where you don't have a signal? How long can you exist without your mobile phone? But can you, at all?

The fear of being mobile-less has been recently called nomophobia (or nomo-phobia), standing for "no mobile phobia". According to The Independent, a well-known UK newspaper, a recent study made by YouGov revealed that this fear of not having access to a mobile phone affects about 53 percent of the total number of cell phone users in the UK. Which means that more than 20 million British people feel various levels of anxiety when separated from their mobile phones, smartphones or Pocket PCs.

Out of 2,163 persons questioned during the study, more than a half told they would feel insecure or nervous without their phone – 58% of the men and 48% of the women participating at the research admitted this (are women more non-dependable in general, then?). Over 20% of the subjects declared they never turned off their handsets. "Being phoneless and panicked is a symptom of our 24/7 culture," said Stewart Fox-Mill, chief of telephony at Post Office Ldt., the initiators of the research.

While the chances of remaining without a phone are usually small, nomophobia must be seen as a serious phobia that can affect the modern life we now have.

How to avoid getting nomophobic? Give friends / family alternative numbers or alternative methods where you can be contacted in case your phone is not usable. Plus, save your contacts to back-up lists, to make sure you have them even if your handset is stolen / lost. Or just concentrate on the sides of life that do not emphasize so much on the need of a cell phone.