If you have ever felt your phone vibrate in your pocket and took it out only to realize that no one called or messaged you, then do not worry. You are not desperate or lonely and you are not going insane. This is called Phantom Vibration Syndrome and it is believed to occur in around 90% of people who have a phone and use it regularly.
The syndrome is the result of becoming so close with our phone. As we have grown used to having a phone in our pocket all the time, so to have we become accustomed to reacting to that vibration. Then, when we feel a muscle twitch in our body or our clothes rub against our skin, it is easy to mistake it for a vibration.
If this happens to you it does not mean that you are obsessed with your phone, or desperate for someone to call you. While the feeling is technically a hallucination, it is one that is easily explained.
Robert Rosenberger the researcher behind the syndrome says instead that it is simply human nature. Our brains are not being rewired because of our obsession with technology. Instead, technology is just one example of basic human nature to obsess about anything. You will have felt this same feeling many times in your life when you thought someone was at your door and you went up and checked and no one was there or if you were waiting for a bus to come and you thought you heard it approaching from around the corner.
While it is simply in our nature to think the phone is vibrating or our name is being called in a large crowd it doesn’t mean that you are not obsessed with your phone either. Today too many people are attached to their devices and it is not healthy. If you feel you are spending more time with the devices in your life than the people, take a break.
