It's a condition that many people didn't even know had a name, and if you don't suffer from nomophobia, there is a pretty good chance you can name a handful of people that do.

Nomophobia is the fear of being without your mobile phone (short for no-more-phone phobia). It is a fact of life that people are becoming addicted to their smartphone. But how bad has this addiction become? Researchers from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, decided they wanted to find out.

The ISU researchers developed a quiz of 20 questions along with a scoring guide to determine if you are addicted to your cell phone. They then quizzed 300 people, tallied the results, and found that it is an accurate predictor of whether a person actually suffers from nomophobia. The results were then published in journal Computers in Human Behavior.

Want to find out if you suffer from nomophobia? Answer these questions (truthfully!) by using a one to seven scale, with a one for strongly disagreeing and a seven for strongly agreeing.

  1. I wouldn't feel comfortable without constant access to information from my smartphone.
  2. I would be annoyed if I didn't have my smartphone to look up information whenever I needed to.
  3. Not being able to get information (i.e.weather and news) on my phone would make me nervous.
  4. I would be annoyed if I couldn't use my smartphone and its capabilities when I wanted to do so.
  5. I would be scared if I ran out of battery on my smartphone.
  6. If I were to reach my monthly limit of data use on my smartphone, I would panic.
  7. If I didn't have a wi-fi signal on my smartphone, I would find myself constantly checking to see when I do get a wi-fi signal.
  8. If I could not use my smartphone, I would feel worried that I may get stranded someplace.
  9. If I couldn't check my smartphone after a period of time, I would feel a strong need to do it again.

The next set of questions on the nomophobia quiz pertain to being without a smartphone.

  1. I would feel anxious if I couldn't immediately communicate with my friends or family.
  2. I would feel worried if my friends or family couldn't communicate with me.
  3. I would feel nervous if I couldn't receive either text messages or phone calls.
  4. I would be anxious if I couldn't keep in touch with my family or friends.
  5. I would feel nervous if I knew someone had tried to get in touch with me and couldn't.
  6. I would feel anxious because my communication link to my family and friends would be broken.
  7. I would feel nervous because I would be disconnected from my on-line identity.
  8. I would feel uncomfortable or "out of the loop" if I couldn't stay up-to-date with social media.
  9. I would feel awkward because I couldn't check my notifications from on-line connections.
  10. I would feel anxious because I couldn't check my email.
  11. I'd feel weird because I wouldn't know what to do!

Here is the ISU scoring guide to the nomophobia quiz:

  • 20 - no nomophobia
  • 21-60 - mild nomophobia
  • 60-100 - moderage nomophobia
  • 101-140 - severe nomophobia

After taking the quiz, don't panic if you get a score higher than you would like. ISU researchers say that there is a difference between using your smartphone often and having nomophobia. For example, nomophobics actually have a fear of being away from their phone and often have a sudden urge to check their phone to make sure they haven't "missed anything."

What it all boils down to is, like it or not, smartphones are here to stay, and the best advice is to just be smart about using them!

Source: Yahoo Health

 

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