Do you really know｜你有“无手机焦虑症”吗？

Do you have nomophobia?
The word nomophobia means a fear of being without our smartphone, and it's affecting more and more people with each passing year. After all, we're rarely separated from our phone over the course of a day, and even use them at night time.
Back in 2021, a phone addiction study by researchers from King's College London was published in the Frontiers in Psychiatry journal. It was based on a five-question survey and found that 38.9% of young people qualified as smartphone addicts. Many admitted being unable to control their usage and said that it regularly got in the way of other activities like work or studies.
Furthermore, not having access to their smartphone brought on feelings of distress. It's as if our smartphones are an extension of our bodies and as if we've been amputated when they're taken away from us.
Scary, isn't it? So, what can people do about it?
The first tip is to ban your phone from the bedroom. So that means no bedside charging and no using it as your alarm to wake up in the morning.
Gradually transitioning to sleep in the evening is important. You shouldn't really be using your phone right up to the moment you lay down to go to sleep. That's due to the blue light the screen emits, which stimulates the brain and eyes. It disturbs our brain's nighttime recovery processes and thereby reduces our mental sharpness.
What about notifications?
That's a good question. Smartphone notifications have turned us into Pavlov's dogs, in that we've been conditioned to respond any time a visual or audio prompt goes off. The brain activates its reward circuit and releases hormones like dopamine in particular.
Simply turning those pesky notifications off is the best way to break that vicious cycle. You can create a setting for each app if you need to leave notifications on for some of them.
Another tip along the same lines is to activate grayscale mode, which means removing all colour from your smartphone screen. Smartphone apps are intentionally designed with colourful logos and icons to catch our attention. Seeing row after row of them on your phone screen can make you feel like you're in a candy shop, what with all the enticing colours and shapes.
The greyscale option can generally be found under display settings, but the exact pathway will vary depending on your device. If you're struggling to find it, try searching for your device name followed by greyscale setting on Google.
How can I know if I'm really a smartphone addict?
It's important to be conscious of your consumption habits, and of how you cope being without your phone at certain times. Smartphones have a number of built-in tools which let you see how much screen time you're getting each day, week or month, and which specific apps you're using the most.
Of course, you could also take the survey used by King's College London researchers that I mentioned earlier. It's been published in a number of online news articles. There you have it.
词汇表
nomophobia [ˌnəʊməˈfəʊbiə] n. 无手机焦虑症，无手机恐惧症（指过度依赖手机，对脱离手机产生的焦虑、恐惧等心理）
each passing year 每年，逐年，年复一年
Frontiers in Psychiatry [ˈfrʌntɪrz][saɪˈkaɪətri] 《精神病学前沿》（学术期刊名）
addict [ædɪkt] n. 成瘾者，入迷的人
get in the way of 妨碍，阻碍
have access to [ˈækses] 有使用…的机会，能够使用
distress [dɪˈstres] n. 焦虑，忧虑，痛苦
amputate [ˈæmpjuteɪt] vt. 截肢，切除（身体部位）
stimulate [ˈstɪmjuleɪt] vt. 刺激；激励，激发
mental sharpness [ˈmentl ˈʃɑːpnəs] 思维灵敏度，精神敏锐度
notification [ˌnəʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn] n.（社交媒体等的）通知消息
Pavlov's dog [ˈpævlɒvz] 巴甫洛夫的狗（经典条件反射实验中的狗）
be conditioned to [kənˈdɪʃnd] 习惯于，被训练成，条件反射地
visual / audio prompt [ˈvɪʒuəl / ˈɔːdiəʊ prɒmpt] 视觉/声音提示
go off（提示音等）响起，发出
activate [ˈæktɪveɪt] vt. 激活，启动，开启
reward circuit [ˈsɜːkɪt] n. 奖励回路（大脑中与奖励反应相关的神经通路）
hormone [ˈhɔːməʊn] n. 激素，荷尔蒙
dopamine [ˈdəʊpəmiːn] n. 多巴胺（一种神经递质，与愉悦感等相关）
pesky [ˈpeski] adj. 烦人的，讨厌的
vicious cycle [ˈvɪʃəs] n. 恶性循环
along the same lines 类似于，与…近似
grayscale mode [ˈɡreɪskeɪl] n. 灰度模式（手机等设备的黑白显示模式）
intentionally [ɪnˈtenʃənəli] adv. 故意地，有意地
icon [ˈaɪkɒn] n. （电子屏幕上的）图标
row after row of [rəʊ] 一排排的，一行行的
enticing [ɪnˈtaɪsɪŋ] adj. 诱人的，有吸引力的，迷人的
display setting [dɪˈspleɪ ˈsetɪŋ] n. （电子设备的）显示设置
pathway [ˈpɑːθweɪ] n. 路径，途径，步骤
be conscious of [ˈkɒnʃəs] 意识到，察觉到；知道
built-in tool [ˌbɪlt ˈɪn] n. 内置工具（设备自带的功能工具）
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