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Phantom Vibration Syndrome: An Emerging Phenomenon

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Abstract

Mobile phones are innovation of new era’s technology. Around 5 billion people are using mobile phone worldwide. Mobile phone is an essential part of urban life. People spent more time of cell phones and it is affecting their physical and mental health. People are using vibration alert mode in silence zone and its frequent use lead towards phantom vibration syndrome (PVS). In 2003, Mr. Robert D. Jones described the term Phantom vibration syndrome. Phantom vibration syndrome is an emerging disorder due to excessive use of mobile phones. People perceive that their cell phone is vibrating but in reality it not. PVS is concern with psychological or neurological changes. Prevalence of Phantom vibration syndrome is more than 70% among the medical students. This tactile hallucination causes by repeated use of cell phone, vibration alert mode and using same location for carrying mobile phone. PVS may lead toward anxiety, depression and affective disorders. Phantom vibration syndrome can manage by changing habits towards utilisation and carrying of cell phone. Burnout syndrome may occur in people if phantom vibration syndrome not treated properly. More studies are needed to explore the etiology of PVS and its possible management. Mobile phone users are increasing drastically so in the future more cases of PVS may be reported. KEY WORDS: Mobile phone, World, People, Phantom vibration syndrome and vibration alert modes.
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Asian J. Nursing Edu. and Research 7(4): October-December 2017
1
ISSN 2231-1149 (Print) www.anvpublication.org
2349-2996 (Online) www.ajner.com
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Phantom Vibration Syndrome: An Emerging Phenomenon
Pareek Shatrughan*, Mr. Shatrughan Pareek
Nursing Brother, N.R. Divisional hospital, Delhi
*Corresponding Author E-mail: Shatrughan.pareek@gmail.com
ABSTRACT:
Mobile phones are innovation of new era’s technology. Around 5 billion people are using mobile phone
worldwide. Mobile phone is an essential part of urban life. People spent more time of cell phones and it is
affecting their physical and mental health. People are using vibration alert mode in silence zone and its frequent
use lead towards phantom vibration syndrome (PVS). In 2003, Mr. Robert D. Jones described the term Phantom
vibration syndrome. Phantom vibration syndrome is an emerging disorder due to excessive use of mobile
phones. People perceive that their cell phone is vibrating but in reality it not. PVS is concern with psychological
or neurological changes. Prevalence of Phantom vibration syndrome is more than 70% among the medical
students. This tactile hallucination causes by repeated use of cell phone, vibration alert mode and using same
location for carrying mobile phone. PVS may lead toward anxiety, depression and affective disorders. Phantom
vibration syndrome can manage by changing habits towards utilization and carrying of cell phone. Burnout
syndrome may occur in people if phantom vibration syndrome not treated properly. More studies are needed to
explore the etiology of PVS and its possible management. Mobile phone users are increasing drastically so in the
future more cases of PVS may be reported.
KEY WORDS: Mobile phone, World, People, Phantom vibration syndrome and vibration alert modes.
1. INTRODUCTION:
Mobile phones bring new revolution in the field of
communication. In today’s life style, mobile phones are
commonly use for interactions and leisure time. A
mobile phone is a portable instrument that can make and
receive calls. The first mobile phone was made by
Motorola in 1973 (1). At world level, mobile phones
users are increasing drastically. The figure of mobile
phone users at global level had cross 5 billion by middle
of this year. Nearly 66% of the global population is
using mobile phone (2). In India, at present 1.16 billion
people are using Mobile phones (3). Undoubtedly mobile
phones are an essential part of day to day life in present
scenario. Mobile phone has lots of charismatic features
which impart the global information in fraction.
Received on 03.08.2017 Modified on 15.09.2017
Accepted on 03.10.2017 © AandV Publications all right reserved
Asian J. Nur. Edu. and Research.2017; 7(4): 1-5.
DOI:
Mobile phone has lots of positive things for human
beings but there are some negative impacts of it on life
style. People generally use ringing and vibration mode
for call and messages alerts. Mobile phone ringing is
prohibited in mostly offices and areas now a day’s so
generally people use vibration mode for alerts. Phantom
vibration syndrome (PVS) is also a part of mobile phone
induced disorder. In 2003, Mr. Robert D. Jones
described the term Phantom vibration syndrome. As per
Mr. Robert, PVS is a psychological phenomenon (4).
PVS refers to when a mobile phone user perceives that
mobile phone is vibrating when in reality it was not.
According to Dr. Rothberg, PVS is not a syndrome. It is
a tactile hallucination; in which brain perceive a
stimulation that is not actually present (5). PVS is a
common phenomenon at global level. PVS is an
emerging disorder due to over use of mobile phones. It is
associated with psychological diseases (6).
Asian J. Nursing Edu. and Research 7(4): October-December 2017
2
Prevalence of Phantom vibration syndrome:
PVS is a disorder of emerging technology. There were
lots of studies conducted to assess the prevalence of
PVS. In 2010, Rothberg et al conducted a study on PVS
among medical staff. Nearly 70% people experience
PVS during activity of daily living. PVS was common
among mobile phone and Pagers uses (5). During 2013,
Michelle Duouin et al conducted a study among 290
undergraduate students. The study revealed that, PVS
was experienced by the 89% respondents (7). Lin YH et
al( 2013), reported that 78% subjects had perceived
Phantom vibration syndrome (8). In 2017, Abolfazal
MB et al noted that prevalence of PVS among medical
students was 54.3% and it was higher in male students
comparing to female students (9). There are lots of other
studies are available which found higher prevalence rate
of Phantom vibration syndrome around the world.
Sign and Symptoms of Phantom vibration syndrome:
1. Psychological stress
2. Anxiety
3. Hallucinations
4. Depression
5. Attention deficit
6. Over vigilance
7. Emotional disturbance
Causes of Phantom vibration syndrome:
1. Frequently use of cell phone
2. Vibration mode of cell phone
3. Cell phone dependency
4. Post traumatic disorder
5. Emotional attachment for gadgets
6. Stress
7. Keeping cell phone in same pocket for long duration
Management of Phantom vibration syndrome:
Phantom vibration syndrome has high prevalence rate
and it is emerging with time so the managing PVS in
early stage is very important.
a) Time bounded use of cell phone
b) Decrease the possible dependency of cell phone
c) Frequently change the alert modes like vibration to
ringing
d) Life style modifications
e) Counseling and guidance regarding hallucinations
and affective aspects
f) Use different devices
g) Carrying cell phone in different pockets or
positions.
h) Avoid the vibration mode of cell phone
Complications Phantom vibration syndrome:
1. Burnout syndrome
2. Psychological affective disorders
3. Depressive psychosis
4. Pathological stress
CONCLUSION:
Mobile phones are vital part of today’s lifestyle and its
users are increasing day by day. It is useful in
conversations, exchange of ideas, and utilization of
leisure time. Mobile phones have not only positive
aspects but also negative effects on human being.
Mostly people use vibration alert mode in their cell
phones. The frequent use and dependency on cell phone
lead towards PVS. People are affected with PVS at
global level and its prevalence rate is too high. PVS is a
tactile hallucination which occurs due to psychological
or neurological damage. It is an emerging phenomenon,
so we can minimize the PVS with small alterations in
our life style. Persistent PVS may lead to burnout
syndrome (10). More research studies are needed to
explore the existing causes and management of PVS.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST:
There was no conflict of interest.
FUNDING SOURCE:
Study was self financed by the researcher.
REFERENCES:
1. Heeks and Richard. Meet Marty Cooper- the inventor of the
mobile phone. Computer .2008;41(6):26-33
2. Mobile world congress 2017, Barcelona, February 2017
3. Indian Express. Number of Indian mobile users rises by 13.75
million to 1.16 billion in February: Trai.30th April 2017.
4. Phantom vibration syndrome. Wikipedia
5. Rothberg MB, Arora A, Hermann J, Kleppel R, St Marie P,
Visintainer P. Phantom vibration syndrome among medical staff: a
cross sectional survey. British Journal of Medicine. 2010; 341:
c6914.
6. Robert Rosenberger. An experimental account of phantom
vibration syndrome. Computers in Human Behaviour.
2015;52:124-131.
7. MichelleDrouin and Daren H. Kaiser. Phantom vibrations among
undergraduates: Prevalence and associated psychological
characteristics. Computers in Human
Behaviours.2012;28(4):1490-96
8. Lin YH, Chen CY, Li P, Lin SH. A dimensional approach to the
phantom vibration and ringing syndrome during medical
internship. Journal of Psychiatry Research. 2013;47:1254–1258.
9. Abolfazal MB, Narges MS, Esmail Moshiri, Zohreh Anbari, Ali
Ahmadi and Hossain Ansari. The prevalence of phantom
vibration/ringing syndromes and their related factors in Iranian
students of Medical sciences. Asian journal of Psychiatry.2017;27:
76-80.
10. Chao-Pen Chen ,Chi-Cheng Wu, Li-Ren Chang and Yu-Hsuan
Lin. Possible association between phantom vibration syndrome
and occupational burnout. Neuropsychiatry Disease and
Treatment. 2014; 10: 2307-2314.
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A small handful of recent studies have addressed a phenomenon known as “phantom vibration syndrome”. This refers to when phone users perceive their device to vibrate, indicating that a call or text is incoming, when in fact the phone did not vibrate at all. Though these studies show that most users do not find phantom vibration hallucinations to be very bothersome, they also find that a large majority of users experience this phenomenon. This paper explores what the striking prevalence of phantom vibration syndrome means for our contemporary relationships with technology. I begin with a review of the theories purporting to explain these data, which largely rely on particular understandings of the brain. Next I develop an alternative theory of phantom vibration syndrome based on insights from the philosophical tradition of phenomenology. This account considers the ways users develop bodily and perceptual habits regarding how the phone is understood and used. By critically contrasting these different theories, we can refine our questions about what the high prevalence of phantom vibration syndrome implies about our contemporary technological situation.
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‘Phantom vibration syndrome,’ or perceived vibrations from a device that is not really vibrating, is a recent psychological phenomenon that has attracted the attention of the media and medical community. Most (89%) of the 290 undergraduates in our sample had experienced phantom vibrations, and they experienced them about once every two weeks, on average. However, few found them bothersome. Those higher in conscientiousness experienced phantom vibrations less frequently, and those who had strong reactions to text messages (higher in the emotional reaction subscale of text message dependence) were more bothered by phantom vibrations. These findings suggest that targeting individuals’ emotional reactions to text messages might be helpful in combating the negative consequences of both text message dependency and phantom vibrations. However, because few young adults were bothered by these phantom vibrations or made attempts to stop them, interventions aimed at this population may be unnecessary.
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Meet Marty Cooper-the inventor of the mobile phone
  • Jan 2008
  • COMPUTER
  • 26-33
  • Richard Heeks
Heeks and Richard. Meet Marty Cooper-the inventor of the mobile phone. Computer.2008;41(6):26-33
Number of Indian mobile users rises by 13.75 million to 1.16 billion in February: Trai
  • Apr 2017
  • Indian Express
Indian Express. Number of Indian mobile users rises by 13.75 million to 1.16 billion in February: Trai.30 th April 2017.