Nomophobia? How it Affects Our Mental Wellbeing

BY: Neighbors’ Consejo|

We spend so much time on our cell phones but we do not realize how this affects our daily work and our emotional well-being. Did you know that this addiction, known as Nomophobia, means having the fear of being disconnected from one’s cell phone?

This disorder causes anxiety, nervousness, discomfort, anguish and even anger to the sufferer[1] . According to CellPhoneDea[2] l, five hours a day on our phones add up to 1.45 days a week, six days a month, 75 days a year, 15 years of life… Truly alarming figures. Two out of three people are nomophobic, 47% of  Americans affirm that “they cannot live without their cell phone” and many children acquire their first cell phone at 11 years of age.

Such excessive cell phone use affects not only our emotional well-being, but our physical health as well. We can become sedentary and therefore gain weight. If we use our phone just before going to sleep we will have problems falling asleep or, for example, constantly looking at the screen can cause headaches[3] .

The media content we consult can cause us stress. By leaving it in silence without being able to read the notifications, we can suffer anxiety for fear of missing “something”. Not receiving a message that we expected can frustrate us and make us angry. In addition, the most traumatic thing is that we wrongfully believe that being disconnected from our cell phone breaks social relations with our friends and family.

To use our cell phone responsibly, CellPhoneDeal gives us 5 tips: Take breaks, use timers, set up a cut off time, don’t sleep with your phone, and find a good balance. Well, if you think you are nomophobic and need help with balancing your cell phone use, seek out a mental health professional.

References

 [1]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6510111/

 [2]https://www.cellphonedeal.com/blog/just-how-much-time-do-we-spend-on-our-phones

 [3] [LP3]https://www.cellphonedeal.com/blog/just-how-much-time-do-we-spend-on-our-phones