Textaphrenia: A Rampant Disorder
Everyone in the current world is well versed in all the usefulness of a smartphone. Due to this, the use of smartphones has seen tremendous growth in recent years and will continue to be seen. In recent studies, it was found that the new way of communicating that is over text, has become extremely famous, especially among teens. Recent studies have shown that the use of text messaging through mobile/smartphones for social networking has also helped in reducing loneliness. However, it is reported that excessive use of mobile/smartphones is associated with some specific psychiatric morbidities such as major depression, hypomania/ mania, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and many more. One of these new emerging mental health problems is known as “Textaphrenia”. It is defined as a “disease of text messages or addiction to text messages”. In other words, Textaphrenia is an apprehension that a text message had arrived. While in reality, there is no text message arrived yet.
Textaphrenia is considered to be a combination of auditory hallucination and delusion where the affected individual believes that he had heard a text message tone or feels that his handset is vibrating with the indication of the arrival of a new text message, while in reality there is no new message in the inbox of his mobile/smartphones. This newly recognized mental health disorder is spreading very quickly among teenagers who extensively use their cell phones. People who suffer from Textaphrenia usually present with the signs and symptoms of anxiety, anorexia, insecurity, disappointment, depression, irritation, excessive smartphone usage, low self-esteem, and repetitive thumb syndrome.
It is a new emerging public health issue and hence limited attention is brought to it.
Few people are aware of the symptoms and signs of Textaphrenia, while there are many more people out there who have signs and symptoms of Textaphrenia are suffering from it, but are still unaware of it.
The screening criteria for Textaphrenia which can be used for the generation of awareness in public are as follows:
1. A person/individual claiming to hear the tone of text messages while their smartphone is on silent mode. If it happens two consecutive times in an hour, the person might be suffering from Textaphrenia.
2. If a person is consecutively checking his/her phone for text messages without even receiving any real text messages, the person might be suffering from Textaphrenia.
A recent study revealed that smartphone usage for text messaging had become an integral part of a teenager's life.
The shreds of evidence are suggestive that excessive use of smartphones for text messaging can result in developing psychological dependency and can affect the activities of daily living. Hence, there is a need to study smartphone usage for text messaging more systematically and in detail. It is also important to draw the attention of every individual to this newly emerging public health problem and generate adequate awareness in the community to prevent this condition.
There are certain small and minimal steps that an individual can follow to keep the habit of Textaphrenia under check.
1. Using certain digital well-being apps that can help an individual to check and control their screen time by time blocking.
2. Changing smartphone settings, such as muting notifications of certain apps that distracts a person the most.
3. Time blocking in itself is quite sufficient if utilized properly. An individual can block their time according to their schedule. For e.g. a person can decide to not check their phone within a specific period of time such as 2 PM to 5 PM.
4. Keeping the phone away while working/studying is also applicable in this situation
5. If the above ways are not helpful, an individual can always seek professional help.
All of the ways mentioned above are applicable from individual to individual. To tackle the problem of Textaphrenia, bigger societal solutions will be required. Few such examples can be-
1. Changing a stagnant way of formal communication to a hybrid model (mix of text/in-person/ video call depending on the situation) of communication.
2. Meeting up and holding conversations in personal/physical mode, rather than texting one another wherever possible.
3. Being present for a person when required. It will help a person feel less lonely, as it is one of the main reasons for people using smartphones excessively.
These are just a few ways in which we can start to make a change in society and start creating an impact.
As it is comparatively a new disorder than any other issues currently present, there is not much data or research done around it. Scientists and normal people are still making ways around it. In the meantime, it is our responsibility to know more about it and even self-diagnose it if possible.
