If you don’t, you probably know somebody who does. With Britain stuffed full of more cellphones than people, connected members of the public are developing an increasing number of ways to fret about their handsets.
The result, say experts, is the telecommunications equivalent of phantom limb syndrome, where amputees still feel the sensations of a limb that isn’t there any more.
Many of us will be familiar with the basest form of ringxiety — when one phone rings and everyone in the vicinity suddenly starts checking their pockets or handbags with frantic abandon. But some cases become far more complex: individuals have reported hearing their phone ring at concerts, or while driving.
The neologism was coined by David Laramie, who is studying for his doctorate at California’s School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles. Laramie says he is a sufferer himself, and thinks similar sounds or sequences of notes can trigger the false perception his phone is ringing.
Laramie’s own ringxiety can be sparked by simple things such as TV advertisements or tunes on the radio. ”Another place I hear it is running water, so I sometimes hear it while I’m shaving,” he told the New York Times last month.
Even turning your phone’s ring off doesn’t help — vibrations seem just as likely to cause false positives as audible triggers.
Although it might sound like quackery, the science behind it is fairly straightforward. Certain sound registers — about 1 000 and 6 000 Hertz — are more easily caught by the human ear, and therefore more likely to stimulate a response.
But ultimately it is more likely driven by a psychological need to be always connected, the same thing that encourages people to sit in the pub with their phone on the table. If that’s got you in a panic, then you can always calm yourself down by remembering that ringxiety — like many maladies caused by modern life — isn’t a real, recognised condition … yet. – Guardian Unlimited Â