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Have you ever felt your cell phone vibrate when it actually hadn’t vibrated at all? This sensation has been experienced by quite a number of people and has been coined phantom vibration syndrome. Frequent use of the vibrate mode on cell phones and pagers has increased the frequency of this sensory occurrence. What causes this crazy phenomenon and is there a way to stop it from happening?
At Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, 176 medical staff were surveyed through questionnaires about their cell phone and beeper use. Almost 70 percent of the respondents had experienced phantom vibrations from both these communication devices. The majority began experiencing phantom vibrations after one month to one year of carrying them, however 23 percent did not experience them until after one year of use. Most experienced phantom vibration either weekly or monthly but a small percent felt them every day. The most common location to feel the vibration was when the device was in the breast pocket.
The majority of people experiencing phantom vibration were medical students and residents versus nurses or attending physicians who are not called as frequently for patient problems. It occurred more to those who kept their electronic devices in vibrate mode most of the time. There was no significant difference between men and women. For the most part, the phantom vibration annoyed only 2 percent of the respondents, but 61 percent had tried techniques to stop them.
Those who were successful in stopping phantom vibrations did so by moving the devices to another location--for example, from the belt to the back pocket--and they stopped using the device in vibrate mode. Very few tried to change to another brand of device though that has been reported anecdotally as being helpful; different types of electronic devices vibrate differently.
Phantom vibrations have been characterized as tactile hallucinations. The brain perceives a sensation that is not there. It is thought that because the brain must filter and process an overwhelming input of signals based on what it expects to find, it misinterprets sensory input as the receipt of an expected phone call. The actual stimuli are unknown but it could simply be the sensation of pressure from our clothes or even a muscle contraction in the area where the device is positioned.
Since so many people now carry cellular devices, it has become more common to develop side effects that ten years ago were quite infrequent. Phantom vibration syndrome has become so prevalent, there are 10 Facebook groups that come up when phantom vibration is searched. If phantom vibration syndrome bothers you, try the ideas presented in the study or if you have found another helpful tip, feel free to post it here in the comments section.
Source:
www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c6914.full.pdf
Michele is an R.N. freelance writer with a special interest in woman’s healthcare and quality of care issues. Other articles by Michele are at www.helium.com/users/487540/show_articles
Add a Comment2 Comments
I too thought it was an interesting topic. One of the articles I researched also explained a similar phenomenon I frequently experience in the shower. The running water often creates a pitch that makes me think the phone is ringing. The tone coming from the faucet apparently makes the brain think that the sound is the phone because that is what one expects to be happening when that sound is heard.
January 10, 2011 - 8:07pmThis Comment
Very interesting topic!
January 10, 2011 - 11:41amThis Comment