Just heard a beep? Beware of textiety

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Are you into binge texting? Do you hear the text notification beep of the phone even when no text has arrived? If yes, then you may be one of those text-crazy youngster, who is battling with maladies such as textaphrenia and textiety resulting from excessive messaging.
Teenagers today can be seen messaging late at night when their parents are asleep. Or when they are in restaurants and even while crossing busy streets. At times even in the classroom with their hands behind their back till their thumbs hurt. Ultimately, they reach a stage when they start having auditory hallucinations.
Akshay Khanna, a first year student at DU says that he often feels that his cell is vibrating or there is a notification regarding an SMS. “But when I look at the display of the phone, there is nothing. I came to know that this condition is called textaphrenia. I believe it is the reliance on modern technology to stay connected all the time that has led many of us to this peculiar state of anxiety. It might be indicative of our high expectations from people to remember us through technology.”
Technology has made things like staying in touch quite easier. Especially, for teens whose lives revolve around phones. They get so used to interacting that when they are home, they miss being in the company of friends.
“At home, the environment isn’t as charged as it is in college. So that silence makes us more susceptible and we look for action. We are constantly looking for opportunities to connect with friends and their absence makes us seek them more,” explains Smriti Sharma, a psychology student with IGNOU adding that she gets up at odd hours to see if she has got an SMS. “My phone stays on silent mode, but I imagine seeing the screen light up when in reality it is not the case. I don’t know if it is anxiety, but I can’t explain why I feel the urgency to respond to my friends,” says Smriti.
More than the need, the trend is greatly spurred by the unlimited texting plans offered by mobile service providers. “All my friends have economic texting plans and messages come as cheap as one paisa per message. So it isn’t heavy on our pockets and we can update each other about every minute’s activity. But I must admit that I feel anxious when I don’t receive any texts or when I am not able to send any. It’s so annoying. And when someone doesn’t reply within 10 minutes, it is frustrating,” adds Swapnil Shekhar, a Class 12 student. Philosophy student Shamik Chakravarty says, “Sometimes I hear sounds when I’m expecting a call or when I have been getting too many of them. But it happens most when I’m lonely and want someone to call.”
He adds that when our brains are not tired, we are in control of things, and so unpredictables can be prevented.
“But when we are tired, or drunk, we are open to unpredictable patterns, which we therefore aren’t able to control. They are embedded in our subconscious and never come to the foreground of our minds. And when our guard is off, we experience such behaviour,” he opines.