When thinking about addiction, one inevitably thinks of the millions of lives that it takes and its large categories, such as the addictions to drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, sex, shopping, love, sports, and so forth. Whatever the type, we cannot deny that addictions cause medical, psychological and social harm to the individuals, and the people that surround them by removing freedom, rationality, mental state and more. Nevertheless, with the propagation of mobile economic devices, we are now living in a mobile age in which mobiles are the lasted evolution of technology and have become an indispensable part of our lives. According to data from 2016, “58.7% of the world’s population (4.30 billion) was using mobile phones. Nearly half of this number (2.14 billion) is estimated to have been using smartphones”.[1]According to Pew Research Center’s Mobile Technology Fact Sheet, “as of January 2014, 90% of the American adult population has a cell phone and, 58% of American adults own a smartphone”.[2]In context, Dr. Lee S. from National Yang-Ming University is quoted that “smartphones are particularly popular in young adults. In fact, high school and college students are the early adopters of smartphones”.[3]Ultimately, this information has led researchers and psychologist around the world to fathom in the effects of new communication and recreational technologies in the human psyche. Eventually, the term nomophobia arose with that thought.

Nomophobia is a relatively new line of research. The term nomophobia is an “abbreviation for no-mobile-phone phobia and is commonly known as the fear of not being able to use one’s smartphone, and the services it offers.”[4]This term and definition arose from a 2008 study by the UK Post Office in which researchers investigated anxieties mobile phone users suffer. “The 2008 study in the UK, conducted with over 2100 people, demonstrated that 53% of mobile phone users suffered from nomophobia”.[5]Data from questionaries’ played a role in the results of this study. The study contained questions ranging from time use, and level of anxiety in a relationship with smartphone use. In the study, researchers reported that 53% of mobile users felt anxious when they were unable to use their mobile phones and over half of the users never shut their phones off. People have become dependent on their mobile phones more than ever, which, in turn, supposedly intensifies the feelings of anxiety caused by being out of mobile phone contact. Subsequently, studies adopted the definition coined by the 2008 UK study with small differences concerning the stance and direction of their research. Subsequent studies around the world have found that the numbers have increased since then. Although the UK study just explored the levels of anxiety regarding smartphone use, currently Psychologists and Researchers are fighting over the inclusion, recognition, and validation of nomophobia as a real disease. As a result, our knowledge in the inquiry of nomophobia and smartphone use has grown.

As time went on, Nomophobia began to be described as “the fear, anxiety of not being able to use one’s smartphone, and the services it offers, until the point of affecting academic performance, productivity, sleeping, and human behavior.”[6]Besides, smartphone addiction is defined as an individual’s excessive use of a smartphone and its negative effects on her/his life as a consequence of her/his inability to control this behavior. Current research has examined smartphone addiction in light of four categories: “tolerance, withdrawal, excessiveness and functional disorder.”[7]However, addictionis a strong word to use since it is a form of disrespect to the people who have true addictions and true phobias who need profound help. Even though this is the case, nomophobia and the term addiction sharecommon patterns. According to the National Institutes of Health, substance addiction is associated with a steep increase in usage and attempts to seek out the substance. Also, “important social, occupational, or recreational activities are given up or reduced because of use of the substance.”[8]After reading the literature of nomophobia, we came to know that the same holds some of the characteristics of an addiction. Some experts considered nomophobia as a byproduct of our current exposure to technologies nowadays.[9]Therefore, throughout the literature of nomophobia is difficult not to find discussions by experts over linking nomophobia as a type of addiction since both share responses to the same mechanism: in this case the smartphone. These discussions just emphasize one of the most critical problems in the literature of nomophobia. Since this, a relatively new topic experts are fighting for the validation and the inclusion of it in the DSM-V. Therefore, their work is mostly focused on developing scales and an appropriate definition of this proposed disease. This shifts the research of nomophobia to a vast majority of aspects in the human psyche. In some cases, the empirical data presented shares a number of inconsistencies and overall bias[10]. However, there are many evident patterns and connections in the conversation and research done on the topic. Nevertheless, these patterns are obscured by the number of inconsistencies and shortcomings in the same. Subsequently, this does the job of validating this proposed disease very hard.

The current research has let psychologists understand the magnitude of nomophobia, by following the effects of smartphones on attention and learning, the creation of stress, cognitive effects and addiction to smartphones as an attempt to validate the same by using questionaries’ fieldwork, sample sizes in a wide range of scenarios and situations. Also, to understand that besides the presence of smartphones may it be troublemaking, there are also adverse effects when smartphones are out of reach as well. To be specific psychologist and researchers have come to know that attention is most likely to be impaired by cellphone distractions. Also, that “having a smartphone, being distracted by a smartphone, and nomophobia consistently impacted quiz performance for material.”[11]Moreover, that Nomophobia affects stress through the perception of a social threat and that this indirect effect depends on the context of a phone withdrawal situation. Only under the condition of low uncertainty and high control does nomophobia not lead to stress. “Stress intensifies in different scenarios that range from the unavailability of a smartphone, the thought of not having it, not being able to use it and losing it.”[12]Meanwhile, other research papers examine an explanatory model for sleep problems that includes cognitive components as well as daily and night-time technology use. This sleep-oriented research spunk that 20% of young adults reported being awakened at least a few nights a week, most often by an alert or notification from a smartphone. A 2013 study of college students found that “47% reported nighttime awakenings to answer text messages and 40% awoke to answer phone calls, which, in turn, predicted poorer sleep quality”.[13]In other words, anxiety about being away from technology and dependence on technology predicted increased daily smartphone use and increased nighttime phone awakenings, both of which predicted increased sleep problems.

On the other hand, multiple research papers clear the fact that the work of psychologists and researchers in nomophobia share many relationships. For instance, the use of Quantitative and Qualitative forms of data to approach a current common theory in the topic of smartphone use and nomophobia: Smartphone use impacts learning, memory in college students, increases stress from withdrawing as well as affecting productivity in the work environment, and affecting sleep patterns.At this point, psychologists and researchers such as Jessica S. Mendoza, Benjamin C. Pody, Caglar Yildirim, Ana-Paula Correia, and Larry Rosen, Louis M among others argue that the same can be linked to symptoms of nomophobia. At the same time, there is a non-ending fight over the recognition of these findings among psychologist, researchers, and many professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association. Most of the suggestions and treatments for trying to “cure” this addiction are non-realistic or not-empirically verified. However, since this a relatively new disease is comprehensive that the research and material of study are oriented towards validating this addiction instead of finding the cure or alternatives to solve it. Nevertheless, this is a sing that if validated more research must be done.

In the literature of nomophobia, experts seem to agree in the use of questionaries’ for the diagnosis of nomophobia, also that in the long run cognitive therapy may be a solution to help people cope with the disease and lastly the fight towards validating this addiction, and the stance that smartphones affect human behavior, productivity, work and, academic environment. However, as mentioned before one of the most critical problems in the literature of nomophobia and the reason of why this addiction has a hard time to be validated by psychologists, is the lack of inclusiveness in the evidence, and its contradictions. From a wide range of research papers, experts agree that nomophobia is the fear of not being able to use one’s smartphone and the services it offers. However, psychologists are not clear with the term. Some research papers and psychologist argue that is an “addiction,”[14]“a social phobia,”[15]“an object-oriented phobia,”[16]“anxiety disorder,”[17]“or a situation-specific phobia.”[18]This implies that understanding and agreement in the matter is lacking. With this kind of research, it can be anything. The study of nomophobia and its findings of its effects in the human psyche is broad, that can be a remarkable thing indicating that nomophobia may it be a severe disease. Nonetheless, it can also mean that the research is limited, and if nomophobia has such a broad spectrum, trying to orient the analysis with a meta-study towards proving that indeed nomophobia has such repercussions in society could help. Other things to point out are that all the data comes from questionaries’ focused in urban cities and universities. This indicates that further investigation into the prevalence of nomophobia among different demographic groups in diverse contexts is needed. For instance, a previous study revealed that females were more susceptible to nomophobia when compared to males.[19]Conversely, in another study, males were shown to be more likely to demonstrate nomophobic behaviors than males.[20]Given these inconsistent results, further investigation is needed to determine whether males and females differ in their tendency to nomophobia. Besides, future research should aim to determine which factors predict nomophobia, which can be useful for identifying potential risk groups and developing prevention strategies to help those groups deal with nomophobia.

Footnotes 

[1]Lee, S. Y. (2014). Examining the factors that influence early adopters’ smartphone adoption: The case of college students. Telematics and Informatics, 31(2), Page 308.

[2]Poushter, J. (2016). Smartphone ownership and internet usage continues to climb in emerging economies: But advanced economies still have higher rates of technology use. Pew Research Center: Global Attitudes and Trends.

[3]Lee, S. Y. (2014). Examining the factors that influence early adopters’ smartphone adoption: The case of college students. Telematics and Informatics, 31(2), Page 308.

[4]Stefan Tams, Renaud Legoux, Pierre-Majorique Léger. (2018). Smartphone withdrawal creates stress: A moderated mediation model of nomophobia, social threat, and phone withdrawal context, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 81, Page 1.

[5]Caglar Yildirim, Ana-Paula Correia. (2015). Exploring the dimensions of nomophobia: Development and validation of a self-reported questionnaire, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 49, Page 131

[6]Stefan Tams, Renaud Legoux, Pierre-Majorique Léger. (2018). Smartphone withdrawal creates stress: A moderated mediation model of nomophobia, social threat, and phone withdrawal context, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 81, Page 1.

[7]Şahin Gökçearslan, Çelebi Uluyol, Sami Şahin. (2018). Smartphone addiction, cyberloafing, stress and social support among university students: A path analysis, Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 91, Page 48.

[8]Fung, B. (2015, May 19). Why you shouldn’t confuse ‘nomophobia’ with an actual addiction to smartphones. Retrieved November 05, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/05/19/why-you-shouldnt-confuse-nomophobia-with-an-actual-addiction-to-smartphones/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.484f89a0351a

[9]Stefan Tams, Renaud Legoux, Pierre-Majorique Léger. (2018). Smartphone withdrawal creates stress: A moderated mediation model of nomophobia, social threat, and phone withdrawal context, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 81, Page 2.

[10]Mail Online (2008). Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact – And it’s the plague of our 24/7 age.https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-550610/Nomophobia-fear-mobile-phone-contact–plague-24-7-age.html, Retrieved November 8, 2018.

[11]Jessica S. Mendoza, Benjamin C. Pody, Seungyeon Lee, Minsung Kim, Ian M. McDonough. (2018). The effect of cellphones on attention and learning: The influences of time, distraction, and nomophobia, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 86, Page54.

[12]Stefan Tams, Renaud Legoux, Pierre-Majorique Léger. (2018). Smartphone withdrawal creates stress: A moderated mediation model of nomophobia, social threat, and phone withdrawal context, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 81, Page 6.

[13]Larry Rosen, Louis M. Carrier, Aimee Miller, Jeffrey Rokkum, Abraham Ruiz. (2016). Sleeping with technology: cognitive, affective, and technology usage predictors of sleep problems among college students, Sleep Health, Volume 2(1), Page 49.

[14]Şahin Gökçearslan, Çelebi Uluyol, Sami Şahin. (2018). Smartphone addiction, cyberloafing, stress and social support among university students: A path analysis, Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 91, Page 48.

[15]Stefan Tams, Renaud Legoux, Pierre-Majorique Léger. (2018). Smartphone withdrawal creates stress: A moderated mediation model of nomophobia, social threat, and phone withdrawal context, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 81, Page 3.

[16]Hatice Yildiz Durak. (2018) Investigation of nomophobia and smartphone addiction predictors among adolescents in Turkey: Demographic variables and academic performance, The Social Science Journal, Page 3.

[17]Jessica S. Mendoza, Benjamin C. Pody, Seungyeon Lee, Minsung Kim, Ian M. McDonough. (2018). The effect of cellphones on attention and learning: The influences of time, distraction, and nomophobia, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 86, Page 53.

Larry Rosen, Louis M. Carrier, Aimee Miller, Jeffrey Rokkum, Abraham Ruiz. (2016). Sleeping with technology: cognitive, affective, and technology usage predictors of sleep problems among college students, Sleep Health, Volume 2(1), Page 55.

[18]Caglar Yildirim, Ana-Paula Correia. (2015). Exploring the dimensions of nomophobia: Development and validation of a self-reported questionnaire, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 49, Page 131.

[19]SecurEnvoy (2012). 66% of the population suffer from nomophobia the fear of being without their phone. https://www.securenvoy.com/en-gb/blog/66-population-suffer-nomophobia-fear-being-without-their-phone, Retrieved November 8, 2018.

[20]Mail Online (2008). Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact – And it’s the plague of our 24/7 age.https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-550610/Nomophobia-fear-mobile-phone-contact–plague-24-7-age.html, Retrieved November 8, 2018.

 

Bibliography

Caglar Yildirim, Ana-Paula Correia. (2015). Exploring the dimensions of nomophobia: Development and validation of a self-reported questionnaire, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 49, Pages 130-137.

Emarketer. (2014). Smartphone users worldwide will total 1.75 billion in 2014, Examining the factors that influence early adopters’ smartphone adoption: The case of college students. Telematics and Informatics, Volume 31(2), Pages 308-315.

Fung, B. (2015, May 19). Why you shouldn’t confuse ‘nomophobia’ with an actual addiction to smartphones. Retrieved November 05, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/05/19/why-you-shouldnt-confuse-nomophobia-with-an-actual-addiction-to-smartphones/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.484f89a0351a

Hatice Yildiz Durak. (2018) Investigation of nomophobia and smartphone addiction predictors among adolescents in Turkey: Demographic variables and academic performance, The Social Science Journal, Pages 1-23.

Jessica S. Mendoza, Benjamin C. Pody, Seungyeon Lee, Minsung Kim, Ian M. McDonough. (2018). The effect of cellphones on attention and learning: The influences of time, distraction, and nomophobia, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 86, Pages 52-60.

Larry Rosen, Louis M. Carrier, Aimee Miller, Jeffrey Rokkum, Abraham Ruiz. (2016). Sleeping with technology: cognitive, affective, and technology usage predictors of sleep problems among college students, Sleep Health, Volume 2(1), Pages 49-56.

Lee, S. Y. (2014). Examining the factors that influence early adopters’ smartphone adoption: The case of college students. Telematics and Informatics, 31(2), Page 308.

Mail Online (2008). Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact – And it’s the plague of our 24/7 age. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-550610/Nomophobia-fear-mobile-phone-contact–plague-24-7-age.html, Retrieved November 8, 2018.

Murphy, D. (2017). 2.4BN smartphone users in 2017, says emarketer.

Poushter, J. (2016). Smartphone ownership and internet usage continues to climb in emerging economies: But advanced economies still have higher rates of technology use. Pew Research Center: Global Attitudes and Trends. Retrieved from: http://

www.pewglobal.org/2016/02/22/smartphone-ownership-and-internet-usage-

continues-to-climb-in-emerging-economies/.

Şahin Gökçearslan, Çelebi Uluyol, Sami Şahin. (2018). Smartphone addiction, cyberloafing, stress and social support among university students: A path analysis,Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 91, Pages 47-54.

SecurEnvoy (2012). 66% of the population suffer from nomophobia the fear of being without their phone. https://www.securenvoy.com/en-gb/blog/66-population-suffer-nomophobia-fear-being-without-their-phone, Retrieved November 8, 2018.

Stefan Tams, Renaud Legoux, Pierre-Majorique Léger. (2018). Smartphone withdrawal creates stress: A moderated mediation model of nomophobia, social threat, and phone withdrawal context, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 81, Pages 1-9.