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12th Jan 2012

Did you hear something? Smart phone users hear ‘phantom vibrations’

According to a new study, smartphones have become so addictive that some people hear ‘phantom vibrations’ because they’re desperate to receive new messages.

Oisin Collins

According to a new study, smartphones have become so addictive that some people hear ‘phantom vibrations’ because they’re desperate to receive new messages.

Have you ever been sitting at home and you could swear that your phone vibrated? However, when you checked, there was no new notifications at all? Well, according to a new study, you’re not alone.

Smartphones are supposed to make your life somewhat easier, but researchers have suggested that they can actually cause undue stress. This is because people are becoming addicted to checking for mail and social network updates.

Some have become so hooked that they hear and feel ‘phantom vibrations’ in their pockets. If only we were still in Celtic Tiger Ireland. There would be smartphone rehabs everywhere.

The research was carried out on more than 100 volunteers including students and employees from a variety of sectors. So it’s not just because the kids are smoking too much whacky these days.

Stress was shown to be directly linked with how many times someone checked their phone and those with extreme levels of stress were shown to have fallen for phantom vibrations in the past.

Worryingly for some, these phantom vibrations then turned into a vicious cycle as the more stressed a person became the more often they checked their phone for new texts, emails or social networking updates. The more they checked and found nothing new, the more stressed they became.

Richard Balding of the University of Worcester, said: “Smart phone use is increasing at a rapid rate and we are likely to see an associated increase in stress from social networking.”

The findings will be presented to the British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology Conference in Chester today, reports the Irish Independent.

So, if you’re one of those people, rest assured, you’re not alone.

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