Nomophobia and a list of the words of 2012

The New York Times published a story about the “words of 2012,” and I was interested to see nomophobia on the list: “Fear of losing or forgetting one’s mobile phone, or of being outside of the phone’s signal area. From no more (phone|phobia).” I wrote about nomophobia after Hurricane Sandy, when so many of us were coping with the lack of power (and connectivity). As I wrote in the column, I’d received an email about nomophbia from a treatment center, pitching a story. “Studies show that two-thirds of the population suffers from nomophobia,” according to the e-mail, which was about a program to treat the condition at Morningside Recovery Center in California. “As new mobile devices and technology hit the market, nomophobia is increasing, and up 13 percent from a couple of years ago.” Check out that column and a followup one.