I May Be Suffering from Nomophobia!

Hello folks, have a seat and I’ll get right down to it! We need to chat…~smile~

I May Have Nomophobia from Shellie Tomlinson on Vimeo.

I may be suffering from Nomophobia, fear of being without or losing your cell phone. I’m serious. And seeing as I just returned from a long road trip where I was forced to confront my symptoms twenty-four/seven, I thought it may be therapeutic to discuss this among friends. Nomophobia is reportedly on the rise. To be clear, being without my phone doesn’t scare me, losing it does. And I lose mine about nine hundred and twenty three times a day unless I leave the house, at which point that number skyrockets.

Experts say younger people are more likely to be nomophobic than their elders and women were more likely to suffer from nomophobia than men. I was intrigued by that last finding, too— until I looked a little deeper. Apparently, men are also more likely to carry two mobile devices. (I’m looking at you, Papa.)

I was recently visiting with a slew of delightful belles in Ruston, LA when it occurred to me that Nomophobia, in one form or another, may have been with us longer than the experts realize. I was recounting how distressed my dear mama stays about my traveling alone. “Shellie Charlene,” she’ll say, “you either call me or Phil when you get out of your car in that dark parking lot all by yourself— just in case.” What she means is that I need to be on the phone in case I’m assaulted. I’ve never figured out how that’s gonna help exactly unless my would-be attacker is A) intimidated that Mama’s on the phone or B) willing to hold on while she calls for backup.

But that’s neither here nor there. The thing is, I simply must quit panicking when I think I’ve lost my phone, especially since I tend to find it seconds later in my purse, my pocket, or worse—my lap. I don’t know how those “intervention” things work but word has it my family is considering staging one about my nomophobia. Should that happen, leave me a voicemail. Every jailbird gets ONE phone call, right? Right? RIGHT????!!!!!!!!!!

Hugs,
Shellie