Mankinds phobias in the 21st century What do the Essays - Phobias

Mankind's phobias in the 21st century: What do they result from? Author: Julia Stefaska Supervisor: mgr Tomasz Sutarzewicz In a time when people in a moment cover the distance that even 100 years ago occupied a few days, have cellphones, computers and broadband Internet access, and most deadly diseases are treatable, why are there still u nsolved problems for humanity? Our ancestors fought a war virtually non-stop, lived shorter and less comfortable, so in comparison, contemporary people are lucky. In developed countries, the new mental health problem is related to scientific and technical progress and urbanization. The fast pace of life, fear of job loss are causing severe stress and neuroses. Emerging new inventions and improvements of already known devices cause new phobias, such as fear of losing a mobile phone ( nomophobia ), fear of Facebook ( editiovultaphobia ) or fear of texting ( methylchloroisothiazolinonephobia ). A phobia can develop during childhood, adolescence or early adulthood, it is unusual for it to start after the age of 30. However, it is not alwa ys clear why some phobias occur, it can be virtually anything. Some of them can often be linked to an earl y negative childhood experience, stressful situation, a frightening event someone do not want to repeat, because even the thought of it inspires the same terror. O thers may be acquired by observational learning - witnessing and becoming aware of parent' s or household member's phobia. Through observational learning, humans are able to learn to fear potentially dangerous objects . S o cial networking sites can be s tressful for some people, too. For older generation s ometimes stress factor is how to use the technology, whereas t een ager s can be affected by high levels of anxiety when they e xperience some form s of cyber-bullying or when troublesome photo graphs go viral, especially with developed social phobia or low self-esteem . For younger people, surfing the Internet and using social networking sites is a norm, and even far-reaching, drastic consequences such as nausea or panic attacks cannot stop them. Low self-esteem and difficulties in social relationships are risk factors also for nomophobia ( which includes anxiety and stress to lose the phone or do not have coverage to be connected ) and methylchloroisothiazolinonephobi a (a fear of texting). The research show that nearly 53 percent of mobile phone users in Britain are apt to be anxious when they "lose their mobile phone, run out of battery or credit, or have no network coverage." For average mobile phone user t he problem with the phone is that it implicates that any received message must be important and should be responded to immediately , regardless of user's action at the time of getting call or message. Addiction to smartphones occurs probably due to their technical possibilities (other devices have similar options, but none combines all of them equally in such elegant way) and the clever emotional game in which it engages the user. It uses the natural human need to be up to date with everything th at is happening in the social group, and attaches itself to the the user mercilessly. In comparison with traditional e-mail is as non-invasive as traditional paper mail. User can respon d to an e-mail at once , but also can do it later - a nd indeed it often leads to not answering at all . Mobile phones and social media sites operate with subtle psychological pressure, which exer ts a need to participate in the social life , with a bit of fun. Insecurity, lack of self control t hat leads the person towards addiction, impatience that makes a person anxious to talk someone as keeps staring at a cell phone, bored om that forces the victim to keep him/her busy in using social media and other activities are main factors contributing to progress of nomophobia . One may feel insecure regarding data saved on their device . People fear that if they keep their phone away from them, someone might steal their personal information - that is why they always keep it within their range. Sometimes the phone can become a partner and a friend in adverse social