May 5, 2017: Del Rio News-Herald * OPINION * Letter to the Editor * Dr. Digital: Devices diagnosis
Letter to the Editor,
Dr. Digital: Devices diagnosis
Patient 1: I have this feeling of panic upon being separated
from my phone or tablet. Sometimes I feel panic when I misplace my phone and at
other times that panic spirals into desperation.
Dr. Digital: You are suffering from "No-Mobile
Phobia" or "nomophobia".
Patient 2:
My tech
devices interrupt my leisure time, conversations, and meals. What’s worse is
that I'll be on Facebook and he'll be on a sporting app while we are both in bed,
then we realize that we are literally sitting in bed together, but living in
different worlds.
Dr. Digital: You are suffering from "technoference”.
Higher “technoference” correlates directly with lower relationship and life
satisfaction. When people experience what they perceive to be an interruption
due to technology, their views of the relationship are likely to suffer,
especially if these interruptions are frequent.
Patient 3: I always feel that my mobile device is pinging or
vibrating when, in fact, it is not.
Dr. Digital: You are suffering from “fauxcellarm”, “phantom
ringing”, and “ringxiety”. Phantom vibrations are this unusual curiosity that
speaks to our connection with our phones.
Patient 4: I am always researching and diagnosing my own
illnesses online. I use the internet to self-diagnose. I get neurotic, and go
down a Google wormhole, frantically reading about every dreaded disease that
matches my symptoms, and soon I’m convinced I’m dying.
Dr. Digital: You are suffering from “cyberchondria”. The top
diagnoses matching a symptom search will usually be wrong. It can mess with the
diagnostic process, because the results can suggest rare or morbid conditions
to patients, which in turn can prompt the appearance of new 'symptoms.'
Patient 5: I have this spooky feeling that someone's watching
me or listening to me; that my life is being broadcast.
Dr. Digital: You are suffering from the “Truman Show Delusion”
from the 1998 movie “The Truman Show”, where Truman Burbank had that feeling
too, only his turned out to be true. With all the recent revelations about
“wiretapping”, “surveillance” and “unmasking”, people can feel unnerved.
Marian Casillas,
Ed.D.
Del Rio