Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Do you Suffer from Nomophobia? Are you Sure?

The 21st century has produced a new illness, “no mobile phobia” (Nomophobia) -- the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. Researchers in the U.K. report that 13 million Brits suffer from this stressful condition brought on by the fear that their phone will lose its charge, be misplaced or simply lose tower contact making them unreachable. Here we are again, suffering from yet another technological marvel designed to save time and improve our effectiveness. Don't get me wrong; I'm grateful for new technologies. It is good to be reachable in an emergency, but I'm also concerned about technology's potential for dehumanizing us. The spiritual consequences of 24/7 cell phone use, it seems to me, are severe.

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