“Vibranxiety” -Is that my cellphone vibrating (or my brain)?

In our continuing spiral through the multiple stages of technological dependency, we discover more and more side affects to our technological usage and abusage.

We’ve found that just maybe, having a wireless earpiece for your phone is bad for your brain. The iPods are quickening hearing loss amongst teens, and threatening to have us all run over as we forget to listen to cars coming on the streets (I’m still skeptical about that one). And RSI injuries are becoming more and more common as BlackBerry, mobile phone and computer usage become more and more common.

The latest side affect discovery may hopefully put a lot of people’s fears to rest.
Some call it "phantom vibration syndrome”, others “vibranxiety”, either way you describe it, how many of you have thought you have felt your phone vibrating, only to pull it out and find it thoroughly asleep? I know it has happened to me countless times, and I had begun to wonder whether I was crazy; or at least, more crazy.

Well, Canadian blogger Steven Garrity had the same problem, and with a blog under his belt, he decided to put it out there for people to comment on. More than 30 cellphone users replied describing similar symptoms. "I ended up hearing from a lot of people who said, 'Hey, the exact same thing happens to me,' " Garrity says. "And it was somewhat comforting, because it made me think I wasn't insane, after all."

So is it nerve damage or muscle memory, or simply your mind playing tricks on you?
According to Jeffrey Janata, director of the behavioral medicine program at University Hospitals in Cleveland, it’s in your mind. "You come armed with this template that leads you to be attentive to sensations that represent a cellphone vibrating," Janata says. "And it leads you to over-incorporate non-vibratory sensations and attribute them to the idea that you're receiving a phone call."

Basically what he’s saying is that, when we carry our cellphone in our pocket, we’re well aware that we have placed it there. Our brain is therefore ready to notice the vibrating and tell you to pick it up before the caller hangs up. Subsequently, it can overcompensate and provide false signals, leading to the “phantom vibrations”.

Needless to say, I was grateful to find out I wasn’t cra… crazier.

Posted by Josh Hill

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-06-12-cellphones_N.htm?csp=34