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Smartphone users experience 'phantom vibrations'

Recent research has revealed that smartphone users often imagine that their phone is vibrating as if it has received a message or a call.

Lead by Richard Balding of the University of Worcester, the study looked at over 100 volunteers, including students and professionals. They discovered that the more stress people became, the more often they checked their phones. This went to the point that those under extreme stress would imagine phantom vibrations even when there was no message or call received.

The fact that smartphones can be used to receive work emails, as well as texts and phone calls, seemed to increase the level of anxiety experienced by the volunteers, despite the fact that the majority of users reported feeling that using a smartphone made their lives easier.

The authors observed: “Smart phone use is increasing at a rapid rate and we are likely to see an associated increase in stress from social networking.

“Organisations will not flourish if their employees are stressed, irrespective of the source of stress, so it is in their interest to encourage their employees to switch their phones off; cut the number of work emails sent out of hours, and reduce people’s temptation to check their devices.”