Do you have the sensation that your cell phone is ringing when it's not?
- or - you hear a ringtone that sends you and others into a frenzy to see whose phone it is?
Welcome to the phenomenon called RINGXIETY.
Dr. David Laramie, from California's School of Professional Psychology, is the originator of the term and experiences "Ringxiety" as well. According to Dr. Laramie, people have grown emotionally dependent on cell phones for feelings of self-worth or for needing to be connected. Sound experts, however, believe hearing similar tones to a telephone's ring sends your expectant brain into action. In the psychological field, that's called a conditioned stimulus response.
Whatever the origin, research says that Ringxiety is here to stay.
I'm a tech geek with everything but my cell phone, so I don't experience Ringxiety. It's never on....and I don't even know my cellphone number.
Do you have Ringxiety?
Avvannavar, M., Kumar, N.S., Shrihari, S., & Babu Are, R. (2008). Mobile Phones: An Anthropological Review of Its Evolutionary Impact The Journal of International Social Research, 1 (5), 81-103
