Details

Parent Category: Advanced News Lessons

Category: Science and Technology

Written by Chris Cotter

Cellphones have become a fifth limb for most people. The phone allows everyone to remain connected to friends and family, check e-mail and the Internet, and listen to music or watch TV. In other words, they have become essential, much like an arm or a leg. The invention has simplified our lives in many respects, but made them more complicated in other ways, too. One byproduct is an always turned on state of vigilance. Just who might be trying to contact us?

That feeling of expectation is a recent phenomenon, as the number of cellphone users grows each and every year. Experts and media are calling it "ringxiety," a term coined by a doctoral student named David Laramie. Laramie is a sufferer of ringxiety, and TV advertisements, songs on the radio, even running water can ignite it. And he's not alone. Most people suffer from the affliction--perhaps even you. Have you ever stood in a crowded place, heard someone's phone ring, and reach for yours, too? Ringxiety also applies to when you imagine that the phone is vibrating.

A look at any number of Internet discussion boards will uncover a thread or two on the topic. Some people simply point out that ringxiety is a result of the modern world. Others claim that TV and radio broadcasts purposefully trigger ringxiety, and so it's a form of mind control.

Ringxiety is not yet an officially recognized illness, and it may sound like quackery. But there is some truth behind the concept. Scientists explain that the human ear is especially sensitive to frequencies between 1,000 and 6,000 hertz. Phantom rings are easily triggered because the tones of cellphones fall within this range, as do so many other, everyday sounds like babies crying or sirens wailing.