Have you ever felt your phone vibrating and end up staring at a blank screen? Well, according to science and studies you have a condition called Phantom Vibration Syndrome.
Not to worry, it’s not fatal and it’s nothing new. The phantom vibrations were felt since the time of the Pager and it was known as ringxiety back then. According to science, your anticipation for a phone call or message is the reason for the mistaken vibrations. But there is an explanation for the sensation, only it’s as simple as muscle spasms or your clothes moving. However, the sensation is also possibly linked to symptoms of mobile addiction.
You are not alone in all of this, says Robert Rosenberger, Ph.D. Assistant Professor at the School of Public Policy. According to studies, 90 percent of people experience this.
Why Are You Having These Hallucinations?
Some claim that technology like our phones has a somewhat re-rewiring effect on our brains. However, these hallucinations are similar to wearing spectacles, says Rosenberger, and is due to bodily habits – when tangible items become so much a part of your body that sometimes, like spectacles, you even forget to wear them at times.
This could be the very same when it comes to the relationships we have with our phones. We are used to them vibrating in our pocket, that it’s easy to misperceive the sensation when something similar happens, like a muscle spasm or your jacket moving.
“People then perceive other sensations such as movement of clothing of muscle spasms as vibrations from your mobile, but it’s just a hallucination,” said the professor.
