Are you addicted to your smartphone? Pay attention it might be nomophobia!
Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives. We cannot survive without it. We can’t resist ourselves to stay away from it. Ofcourse then, how will you check your Facebook, Instagram or other things. So basically, Nomophobia is the fear of being anywhere without your phone.
Phones are used by people as a tool to browse content and fill idle time. When waiting for a bus, or an appointment, we instinctively get our phones out and subconsciously look for interesting things to enlighten, educate and entertain us.
Facebook’s mobile-only active users has surpassed 1 billion worldwide. Well, it’s hard to imagine but it’s true. The fact that there is a name for the fear of being without your phone just shows the importance of mobile in content discovery.
What are the symptoms?
So, there are some visible symptoms that can detect nomophobia in you. They are as follows:
1. If losing a cell phone or cell phone reception causes negative physical symptoms, or one never turns off their phone.
2. One recognizes that a panic attack is an overreaction to lack of reception or a dead battery. Obsessively making sure that one has their cell phone or mobile device.
3.Worry about losing one’s phone is constantly present despite it being in a secure place.
4.Phobia has persisted over a significant length of time and it is dangerous.
What causes Nomophobia?
Before understanding how to treat this phobia, it is important to know its causes.
There are many causes of Nomophobia such as; lack of self control that leads the person towards its addiction, impatience that makes a person anxious to talk someone and he keeps staring his cell phone, boredeom that forces the victim to keep him/her busy in using social media and other activities, but, the main cause of this fear is insecurity.
The insecurity can be of many types. It can be regarding his personality that he feels insecure within himself or herself or the fear can be related to the data saved in it. There is a fear in people that if they keep their phone away from them, someone might steal their personal information that is why they always keep it within their range.
The consequences of Nomophobia can be quite severe. Nausea, chest pain, anxiety and breathing problem are some of its known consequences, that is why you need to take it seriously and go for proper treatment. Never ignore these symptoms.
How to treat it?
Nomophobia is obviously treatable. Treatments for phobias can be approached from several different angles such as exposure therapy or medications to treat the worst of the phobia.
Using the exposure therapy method slowly exposes the person with their phobia first through the mind in therapy sessions and then, in real life situations. For someone afraid of losing their phone, a therapist might ask them to be without it for a certain period of time.
Personalized solutions are also possible.
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