Why people always seem to have their phones handy
While many mobile phone owners suffer from FoMo (fear of missing out), now there is FoBo (fear of being offline), two of the factors that lead to nomophobia.
Smartphones have taken nomophobia to a whole new level since the first mobile phone was sold in South Africa in 1994.
Nomophobia, the fear of being without access to a working cellular phone or losing your signal, was first discovered nine years ago, especially after the introduction of smartphones. The main addictive features of this fear are brought on by applications (apps) which phone owners cannot seem to go a day without using or logging in to. Though most people from the generations before the millennials (persons reaching young adulthood around the year 2000,) believe it is the millennials and generation Z (the genration after the millennials) who suffer from nomophobia, there are technologically-obsessed older people too.
Refilwe Mdakane, 27-year-old from Munsieville, recalls the day she took a taxi back to work after she had knocked off, just because she had forgotten her cellphone at work.
“I couldn’t wait to get the phone the following day, so I arrived at home two hours late, but my fiancé understood, because without a phone you can’t do anything,” said Refilwe.
Researchers from the University of Sungkyunkwan in Seoul have established a link between factors such as personal memories and a greater attachment to smartphones and their users.
Lionel Sebe, 33, from Krugersdorp, can attest to this. He told the News of a dangerous encounter he had which made him realise that it’s not so much the phone that matters, but rather the memory card.
“I was robbed by some men I didn’t know who demanded my phone, I gave them the phone and then I asked them for my memory card, because I knew I could replace the phone but not the memories, pictures, assignments and videos stored on the memory card,” said Lionel.
The News asked several people who were not millennials why they like their mobile phones. One of them was a 50-year-old Burgershoop resident, Catherine Ndwandwe, who uses a phone often, but swore she did not suffer from nomophobia.
“A phone helps me immensely when I go to a place I have never been to before. I receive calls from people giving me directions until I arrive at my destination.
That is the one thing that stands out for me when I think of how useful a phone is,” said Catherine.
Noordheuwel-based clinical relationship therapist and registered counsellor, Susan Eksteen, said a phone should not be used at all times – people should make time for special people in their lives and other priorities.
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