Nomophobia The Fear of Being Without One’s Phone

In a time when digital connectivity has become ubiquitous, different concerns have cropped up ranging from sluggish mobile internet speed, those that delve into the longevity of a phone’s battery and concerns pertaining to online privacy, safety and security.

Outside of these technology-steeped concerns though, psychologists have been bringing up concerns pertaining to the prevalence of “nomophobia” – the ascribed fear of being without one’s smartphone.

Though not formally recognized as a type of mental disorder, it has gained the attention of researchers who are keen on understanding its implications to a world that’s more and more becoming technology-dependent.

Here are quick takes on nomophobia – what it’s all about, what its implications are and a way to find out if you or someone you know has it.

How It Came to Be

Much of what has been understood of nomophobia stems from research and studies on the fear and anxiety associated with not having one’s phone – the most notable of which would be the 2008 study that saw to the coining of the term.

The objective of that study was to largely evaluate the possibility of anxiety disorders due to mobile phone overuse, and its proponents found that nearly 53% of its respondents who use mobile phones become apprehensive when they “lose their mobile phone, run out of battery or credit, or have no network coverage”.

The study also found that approximately 58% of male and 47% of female respondents suffered from a form of mobile phone anxiety when they were not actively using their phones, and that 9% felt strained when their mobile phones were switched off.

55% of the participants agreed that they had a hard time maintaining connectivity with their loved ones, which was largely the reason for their mobile use habits. On comparing stress levels, it was found that the anxiety level that these participants experienced was at-par with those of “wedding day jitters.”

Nomophobia

Nomophobia is basically the term that’s used to encapsulate the general fear and anxiety associated with being without one’s smartphone.

The term is a portmanteau that combines certain letters from the term “NO MObile PHOne phoBIA”, and it is attributed to have been coined by the United Kingdom Post Office during the course of a study commissioned by the research organization YouGov in 2008.

Experts note that though the term contains the word “phobia”, its use is a misnomer in that it implies that it is a specific type of anxiety disorder when it is not.

Given that various psychological factors are involved when a person overuses a mobile phone, like having low self-esteem or having an extrovert personality, experts note that it is difficult to differentiate if a person becomes nomophobic due to smartphone addiction or because of existing anxiety disorders.

Disorders like social phobia/social anxiety and panic disorder may also lead to mobile phone overuse.

But in as much as nomophobia is not identified as a mental disorder, its conceptualization is founded on definitions from the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders.

The “Nomophobia Questionnaire”

Recognizing that the prevalence of anxiety caused by being without one’s phone suggests broad implications in social shifts towards being dependent on tech, a team of researchers published a study titled “Exploring the Dimensions of Nomophobia: Development and Validation of a Self-Reported Questionnaire” in the August 2015 edition of the Computers in Human Behavior journal.

Its proponents came up with the “Nomophobia Questionnaire” as a means to identify and address nomophobia, to which respondents can rate the questionnaire’s statements with either a “strongly disagree”, “disagree”, “neutral”, “agree” or “strongly agree” response.

The Therapy Tips website has an interactive mode of the questionnaire, which is accessible via therapytips.org/personality-tests/ nomophobia-questionnaire.