How To Explain Your Phone Phobia To A Friend

Fearfulness of making or taking phone calls

A visual representation of feet caused by a phone telephone call

Telephone phobia (telephonophobia, telephobia, phone phobia) is reluctance or fear of making or taking phone calls, literally, "fear of telephones".^[ane] Information technology is considered to be a type of social phobia or social anxiety.^[1] It may be compared to glossophobia, in that both arise from having to engage with an audience, and the associated fear of existence criticized, judged or made a fool of.^[ii]

Every bit is common with other fears and phobias, there is a wide spectrum of severity of the fear of phone conversations and corresponding difficulties.^[i] In 1993, it was reported that about 2.five million people in United kingdom had phone phobia.^[3] A 2019 survey of Uk office workers establish that 40% of infant boomers and seventy% of millennials experience anxious thoughts when the telephone rings.^[4]

The term "telephone anticipation" refers to a lower degree of phone phobia, in which sufferers feel feet about the employ of telephones, but to a less severe caste than that of an actual phobia.^[5]

Sufferers may have no problem communicating face to face, but have difficulty doing so over the phone.

Causes [edit]

A fear of receiving calls may range from fear of the action or thought of answering the phone to fear of its actual ringing. The ringing tin generate a string of anxieties, characterized by thoughts associated with having to speak, perform and converse.^[two] ^[vi] Sufferers may perceive the other cease as threatening or intimidating.^[7] Anxiety may be triggered by concerns that the caller may bear bad or upsetting news, or exist a prank caller.

Fright of making calls may be associated with concerns about finding an advisable time to telephone call, in fearfulness of being a nuisance.^[half-dozen] A sufferer calling a household or function in which they know several people may be concerned at the prospect of failing to recognize the voice of the person who answers, with resultant embarrassment.^[six] Some sufferers may be broken-hearted well-nigh having to "perform" in front of a real or perceived audience at their terminate of the line: this is a detail problem for those required to employ a phone in the workplace.^[6]

Fear of using the phone in any context (for either making or receiving calls) may exist associated with anxiety about poor sound quality, and concerns that ane or other party will non understand what has been said, resulting either in misunderstandings, or in the demand for repetition, farther explanation, or other potentially awkward forms of negotiation. These fears are frequently linked to the absenteeism of body language over a telephone line, and the individual fearing a loss of their sense of command.^[6] ^[7] Sufferers typically report fear that they might fail to reply appropriately in the chat,^[1] or notice themselves with nix to say, leading to embarrassing silence, stammering, or stuttering.^[one] ^[half-dozen] By experiences, such as receiving traumatic news, or enduring an unpleasant and aroused call, may also play a part in creating fear.^[2]

Symptoms [edit]

A variety of symptoms tin be seen in someone suffering from telephone phobia, many of which are shared with anxiety. These symptoms may include nervous stomach, sweaty palms,^[2] rapid heartbeat, shortness of jiff, nausea, dry rima oris and trembling. The sufferer may feel feelings of panic, terror and dread.^[8] Resulting panic attacks tin include hyperventilation and stress. These negative and agitating symptoms can be produced by both the thought of making and receiving calls and the action of doing then.

Effects [edit]

Open up-plan offices, in which phone conversations may be readily overheard past co-workers, pose particular challenges for sufferers from telephone phobia

The telephone is important for both contacting others and accessing of import and useful services. As a result, this phobia causes a great bargain of stress and impacts people's personal lives, work lives and social lives.^[2] Sufferers avoid many activities, such as scheduling events or clarifying information.^[ix] Strain is created in the workplace because utilize of phones may play a crucial role within a career.^[7]

Coping and avoidance strategies [edit]

Coping strategies may consist of planning the conversation ahead of time and rehearsing, writing or noting downwardly what needs to be said.^[ii] ^[6] Anxiety may be lessened by having privacy in which to brand a call, so that the sufferer demand not be concerned well-nigh the conversation being overheard.^[vi]

Associated avoidance behaviour may include asking others (e.g. relatives at home) to take phone calls and exclusively using answering machines.^[1] The rise in the use of electronic text-based communication (the Internet, email and text messaging) has given many sufferers alternative ways of communication that they may find considerably less stressful than the phone.^[vi] At the aforementioned time, members of a younger generation who have grown up with digital communication increasingly notice both making or receiving phone calls "intrusive", preferring to use media that allow them to "participate in the conversation at the stride [they] choose".^[x] In the 2019 survey, 61% of Great britain millennial office workers reported that they would "display concrete, anxiety-induced behaviours when they're the only ones in the office and the phone rings".^[4]

Sufferers may find it helpful to explain the nature of the phobia to friends, so that a failure to respond to messages is not misinterpreted as rudeness or an unwillingness to communicate.

Treatment [edit]

Phobias of this sort tin usually be treated by different types of therapies, including: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), psychotherapy, behavior therapy and exposure therapy.^[8]

Practise may play an important role in overcoming fear. It may be helpful to sufferers to increase phone usage at a slow pace, starting with simple calls and gradually working their way up. For example, they may find information technology easier to commencement with automated calls, motility on to conversations with family and friends, and and then further extend both the length of conversations and the range of people with whom conversations are held.^[seven]

References [edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Marshall, John R. (1995). "Telephone Phobia". Social Phobia: From Shyness to Phase Fright . New York: BasicBooks. p. thirty. ISBN0-465-07896-half dozen. telephone phobia.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^east ^f Physician, Ronald Thou. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Phobias, Fears, and Anxieties . New York: Facts On File. p. 493. ISBN0-8160-3989-5.
^ Keeble, Richard (2001). The Newspapers Handbook (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 64. ISBN0-415-24083-two.
^ ^a ^b "Telephone anxiety affects over half of UK office workers". Face for Business. Retrieved 2019-05-03 .
^ Fielding, Richard G. "Telephone apprehension: a study of private differences in attitudes to, and usage of the phone". Retrieved 3 Apr 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Scott, Susie (2007). Shyness and Society: the illusion of competence . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 105–9. ISBN9781403996039.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Rowlands, Barbara (24 August 1993). "Wellness: Don't call me, delight, and I won't call you: To most of u.s.a., the ringing of the telephone is at least a potential pleasure. But to some it is a source of anguish". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-26. Retrieved 3 Apr 2013.
^ ^a ^b "Telephonophobia". Correct Diagnosis . Retrieved 3 April 2013.
^ "Break the bipolar cycle: a twenty-four hour period-by-day guide to living with bipolar disorder", past Elizabeth Brondolo, Xavier Amador, p. 179
^ Buchanan, Daisy (26 August 2016). "Wondering why that millennial won't have your telephone call? Here'due south why". The Guardian . Retrieved 2019-05-03 .