The Fear Behind the Fear of Losing Your Cell Phone

There is a new fear looming among us: Nomophobia. It is the fear of being without a cell phone. Lest you think this is a joke. It is a sad and true reality.

The Huffington Post and CNN ran a story reporting on a survey that showed more than sixty percent of people surveyed are afraid of losing their cell phone. Forty percent feel the fear so acutely they own two phones in case they lose one.

We can roll our eyes and think those people are ridiculous, but before we do that we should ask, "Am I willing to separate from my cell phone?" We like to think about putting our cell phones down or shutting them off (and leaving them off). However, as much as it's talked about, few are able or willing to stop.

We have convinced ourselves that our emails need immediate attention or that Facebook status update needs our comment or that we need to see all the tweets from our favorite celebrity. We know that we don't need to do all these things, but what we don't know is why we can't stop doing them.

We may not want to admit to having nomophobia, but if we can't remain apart from our phone for any length of time we have to ask why we can't. Is there a bigger fear looming behind nomophobia?

Few people are comfortable being present with themselves anymore, and most would prefer a painful death over long sustained silence. Cell phones, more than creating a false sense of connection, keep us distracted.

Cell phones ensure that our fear of being silent and being alone will never be realized. They are perfect at keeping us away from ourselves. The trick is, to learn enough about ourselves to know why we can't stop - we have to stop.

If we can find it in ourselves to actually put down our phone, and listen to our hearts we may find the ability to stay off our phones more often. Have someone hide your phone or let the battery run out away from your charger - do whatever it takes, but you have to do it.

If we can do this, we may at last we overcome nomophobia, because we will finally overcame our fear of ourselves.