Cell Phone Deprivation
Not being able to be alone used to be a sign of a possible personality disorder. Today, not being able to be alone appears to be a sign of the times. How many people have you seen interminably connected via cell phone to some other similarly afflicted individual? The conversations run, mostly in my experience, from the inane to the extremely banal. "Hon, I just got on the bus. Oh, yes, we're turning onto the street now and I'll be in the terminal in just a few minutes." Is this a man who has had an awful experience that has left him with a need to be connected to someone who will comfort him or does his "hon" suffer from separation anxiety of the adult type? I don't know, but I'm beginning to wonder.
So, I think it's time to come up with a new "disorder" of sorts and I think I'll call it Cell Phone Deprivation Syndrome. Why should I wait for someone else to snatch up this catchy phrase and run with it to all the talk shows?
I wonder if the task force currently working on the latest iteration of the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is considering adding some sort of new category to the Personality Disorders or to the Anxiety Disorders. It will be interesting to find out because cell phones have proliferated like those little creatures on that Star Trek series.
As I write, I've got all those nifty little motivational phrases running through my kopf. Remember sitting in school and hearing, "The early bird catches the worm," or "The race is to the swift," or "Close but no cigar." Did they really motivate you? I'm not so sure. Perhaps they were supposed to scare you into action. Maybe, but I don't think so there, either.
Maybe cell phones have somehow gotten into that little anxious area we all have and they have increased our anxiety about always being connected. Does it help? I don't think it helps any more than checking helps people who have a compulsive need to check to handle their anxiety. The ritual begins simply and grows in complexity; all in the service of handling anxiety. It doesn't, but what it does do is cause an inability to either leave the house or walk quietly down a street or go about the ordinary activities of life. Checking is always there.
To satisfy my curiosity, I did a PubMed search and found 118 entries for cell phones. What did they reveal? Mostly, they talked about exposure to radiation or the incidence of accidents while using a cell phone in the car, but there were some that actually looked at how cell phones may be involved in our lives in other ways. Some talked about the effects of cell phones on the sleep-producing substance, melatonin. Others investigated cell phone use and reproductive ability or how they might put kids at risk, but they didn't truly address the social aspects of cell phone use. The problem was, I surmise, that I was looking at the medical literature, not the social psychology literature and that's where it might be. To be continued, my friends.
Okay, I'm waiting for the studies and I'll keep looking because someone somewhere is looking for a dissertation topic and this might be it.
Related Topics: Cell Phone Safety, Confronting Your Phobias
So, I think it's time to come up with a new "disorder" of sorts and I think I'll call it Cell Phone Deprivation Syndrome. Why should I wait for someone else to snatch up this catchy phrase and run with it to all the talk shows?
I wonder if the task force currently working on the latest iteration of the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is considering adding some sort of new category to the Personality Disorders or to the Anxiety Disorders. It will be interesting to find out because cell phones have proliferated like those little creatures on that Star Trek series.
As I write, I've got all those nifty little motivational phrases running through my kopf. Remember sitting in school and hearing, "The early bird catches the worm," or "The race is to the swift," or "Close but no cigar." Did they really motivate you? I'm not so sure. Perhaps they were supposed to scare you into action. Maybe, but I don't think so there, either.
Maybe cell phones have somehow gotten into that little anxious area we all have and they have increased our anxiety about always being connected. Does it help? I don't think it helps any more than checking helps people who have a compulsive need to check to handle their anxiety. The ritual begins simply and grows in complexity; all in the service of handling anxiety. It doesn't, but what it does do is cause an inability to either leave the house or walk quietly down a street or go about the ordinary activities of life. Checking is always there.
To satisfy my curiosity, I did a PubMed search and found 118 entries for cell phones. What did they reveal? Mostly, they talked about exposure to radiation or the incidence of accidents while using a cell phone in the car, but there were some that actually looked at how cell phones may be involved in our lives in other ways. Some talked about the effects of cell phones on the sleep-producing substance, melatonin. Others investigated cell phone use and reproductive ability or how they might put kids at risk, but they didn't truly address the social aspects of cell phone use. The problem was, I surmise, that I was looking at the medical literature, not the social psychology literature and that's where it might be. To be continued, my friends.
Okay, I'm waiting for the studies and I'll keep looking because someone somewhere is looking for a dissertation topic and this might be it.
Related Topics: Cell Phone Safety, Confronting Your Phobias
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6 Comments:
Ha!! Thanks for a great post. Not only are some people not able to be alone but they also are unable to be quiet or be in a quiet atmosphere. Makes me crazy... like constant background music in TV shows and movies.
Cell Phone Disorder, NOS! There could be a host of sub categories!
Cell Phones: the adult pacifier.
Waiting for the follow up!
Tasker
Okay, I'm going to keep watching this and, if something good comes along, I'll pass it on.
I, like you, find cell phones not only intrusive, but a way of calling attention to someone who seems to need it quite a bit.
This may be of interest to you - I suffer from just the OPPOSITE of your post about cell phones...I have a FEAR of answering my cell phone. TRUTH! I have over 5k carryover minutes as of today...I think it is because I'm afraid of who may be calling & they can't wait to tell me the "BAD NEWS" (that is usually only important to the person calling)...or MAYBE it is simply someone wanting me to do something for them (I can't say "no"). I don't do favors & do not expect any from others--SO, I carry a cell phone like everyone else, but I only use it to make a FEW outgoing calls...DOES THIS MAKE ME A BAD PERSON?
S.M. C Florida
Social Anxiety is a potentially debilitating fear of social situations. It is generally considered to be the most common
psychological problem, and encompasses a wide range of phobias and anxieties having to do with social situations. Social
Anxiety Disorder (SAD), if left untreated, can degenerate into worse psychological issues, like agoraphobia or substance abuse, as people try to deal with their issues through avoiding them. For more information on Anxiety Treatment visit http://www.anxietycure.org
Great post. It provides some really good info. Headache can also be caused as a result. A headache is the head saying that you are subjecting it to conditions it cannot tolerate. A mild headache may be saying, 'Can't you do something about this?'; a severe headache caused by poisonous fumes may be saying 'Get out of here, your life is in danger.'
I just returned from a trip to Las Vegas with some friends and this 22 year old either called her mother or texted her male friend every 30 min or maybe even less. She told her mother when she won and when she lost, when we got on tour bus and when we got off, when we entered a casino and when we left, on and on, ect. This went on for the whole trip. I really feel this girl has a problem and I would like to get some help for her.
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