Do you find the very idea of being without your cell phone unbearable? You might have nomophobia, a recently made up disease that was coined in a study from, who else, a mobile phone tech company.
SecurEnvoy found that 66 percent of people suffered from nomophobia, which is short, no joke, for "no mobile phone phobia." (And we were expecting Latin.) This is up 13 percent from a previous study just four years ago.
The research further found that people check their phones an average of 34 times a day, a number that will seem low to anyone who has ever watched every single person at a particularly boring meeting try to surreptitiously check sports scores under the table.
Nomophobia sufferers were likely to be young, and tended to be female rather than male. Seventy-five percent of those surveyed used their phones in the bathroom, a statistic that caused 25 percent of those surveyed to make a barely concealed gagging noise in the back of their throats.
According to the study, warning signs of the disease include constantly checking your phone, worrying about where it is, and keeping it on all the time.
Yes, 66 percent is looking like a low number, indeed. Call us when they come up with a name for the "need to keep your phone's ringer on high 24 hours a day, even when you're not at your desk to hear it" syndrome. Don't worry: We'll have our phones out, ready to take your call.
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