I heard a new word this morning: nomophobia. It means the fear of going out without one’s mobile telephone. As neologisms go, it’s pretty good and I have high hopes for it. Fortunately, it’s a condition from which I doubt I shall ever suffer: however what if I ever should panic when I happen to leave the house my mobile telephone? Now that is something that really scares me: nomophobiaphobia, I suppose one might call it.
It’s not that I object to people blathering away at one another on mobile telephones (actually, it is; but it’s not just that), it’s that they should think me odd for a) not doing so myself; b) believing that an incoming call ought not to be allowed to trump a face-to-face conversation (The incantation, “I’m sorry: I have to take this…” is felt my many to be a charm, in such cases, against any opprobrium that might be directed their way, should the abandoned interlocutor object), and c) not turning the car around ten minutes into a journey so that someone can retrieve their telephone.
I have even had people ask me to turn the radio down in my car, so that they can take - and even make - a telephone call! Can you credit it?
I fear that the human race is hurtling towards a situation where the idea of being incommunicado is not only undesirable, it is practically immoral. They may well come up with a word for it: nomophilia. The condition will at first, merely looked upon with pity but will surely (probably following a campaign by the Daily Mail), become illegal at some point.
Part of the punishment may well be that, before the door clangs shut, the warder will toss in a Nokia, with the words,
“Suck on that, Sunshine!”
It’s not that I object to people blathering away at one another on mobile telephones (actually, it is; but it’s not just that), it’s that they should think me odd for a) not doing so myself; b) believing that an incoming call ought not to be allowed to trump a face-to-face conversation (The incantation, “I’m sorry: I have to take this…” is felt my many to be a charm, in such cases, against any opprobrium that might be directed their way, should the abandoned interlocutor object), and c) not turning the car around ten minutes into a journey so that someone can retrieve their telephone.
I have even had people ask me to turn the radio down in my car, so that they can take - and even make - a telephone call! Can you credit it?
I fear that the human race is hurtling towards a situation where the idea of being incommunicado is not only undesirable, it is practically immoral. They may well come up with a word for it: nomophilia. The condition will at first, merely looked upon with pity but will surely (probably following a campaign by the Daily Mail), become illegal at some point.
Part of the punishment may well be that, before the door clangs shut, the warder will toss in a Nokia, with the words,
“Suck on that, Sunshine!”
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