Technology can be a blessing but also a curse. These days, most of us are constantly connected through high speed Internet on SmartPhones and/or mobile or tablets devices. Often, when these are taken away from us, we are left feeling a bit lost. Technology can thus also cause a lot of stress. Nomophobia is one such mental illness caused by technology, or lack of it. It is described, simply, as the extreme phobia or fear of being without a mobile phone or without a signal on one’s phone.
This relatively new phobia is known to affect nearly 53% of British men, women and teenagers owning a mobile. The word Nomophobia originates from British urban dictionary and was first used by British experts (My phone ‘no work no mo’) studying a group of test subjects that experienced anxiety attacks at the mere thought of losing their cell phone, or experiencing a weak signal or being kept away (for some reason) from their mobile device.