Nomophobia: what it is, symptoms and how to avoid it

Nomophobia is a term that describes the fear of being without contact with your cell phone, being a word derived from the English expression “no mobile phone phobia“. This term is not recognized by the medical community, but it has been used and studied since 2008 to describe addictive behavior and the feelings of anguish and anxiety that some people show when they do not have their cell phone nearby.

Typically, nomophobia is identified mainly in pre-teens and teenagers, as they are the ones who consume this type of technology the most and spend the most time on social media.

As it is a phobia, it is not always possible to identify the cause that leads people to feel anxiety about being away from their cell phone, but in some cases, these feelings are justified by the fear of not being able to know what is happening in the world or of needing medical assistance and not being able to ask for help.

Main symptoms

Some signs that can help identify that you have nomophobia include:

• Feeling anxious when you spend a long time without using your cell phone;
• Need to take several breaks from work to use your cell phone;
• Never turn off your cell phone, even to sleep;
• Waking up in the middle of the night to check your cell phone;
• Charge your cell phone frequently to ensure it always has a battery;
• Getting very upset when you forget your cell phone at home;
• Check your phone frequently to see if you have notifications;
• Anxiety when in an environment without an internet signal;
• Taking your phone charger everywhere for fear of the battery running out.

Furthermore, other physical symptoms that appear to be associated with signs of nomophobia are those of addiction, such as increased heart rate, feelings of excessive sweating, agitation and rapid breathing.

Since nomophobia is still being studied and is not recognized as a psychological disorder, there is still no fixed list of symptoms, there are only several different forms that help the person understand whether they may have some level of dependence on their cell phone. See more about the main types of phobia.

What causes nomophobia

Nomophobia is a type of addiction and phobia that has slowly emerged over the years and is related to the fact that cell phones, as well as other electronic devices, have become increasingly smaller, more portable and with internet access.

This means that each person is contactable at all times and can also see what is happening around them in real time, which ends up generating a feeling of peace of mind and that nothing important is being missed.

Therefore, whenever someone is away from their cell phone or other form of communication, it is common to fear that they are missing something important and that they are not easily contactable if an emergency arises. This is where the feeling known as nomophobia arises.

How to avoid addiction

To try to combat nomophobia, there are some guidelines that can be followed every day:

• Have several moments during the day when you don’t have your cell phone and prefer face-to-face conversations;
• Progressively reduce cell phone use;
• Do not use your cell phone in the first 30 minutes after waking up and in the last 30 minutes before going to sleep;
• Place the cell phone to charge on a surface away from the bed;
• Turn off your cell phone at night.

When there is already some degree of dependence, it may be necessary to consult a psychologist to begin therapy, which may include various types of techniques to try to deal with the anxiety generated by the lack of a cell phone, such as yoga, guided meditation or positive visualization.