Who's Calling? No one.
It seems our addiction to communication and connectivity is manifesting itself physically. People have been complaining about "phantom vibrations" from their cell phones for years, but scientists are just now starting to take notice. You may have even experienced it yourself. You're sitting on your couch or at the dinner table when you feel your phone vibrate in your pocket. You take it out to answer it, only to realize no one is calling you.
No studies have been conducted yet to analyze the cause of the imaginary buzzing, but experts are now tackling the subject and putting forth suggestions as to its cause. Most agree that whatever the specific physiological cause, it is a sign of how quickly we form habits, and how addicted we've become to constant communication.
There are currently two competing hypothesis. One suggests that it is simply the result of the process of learning to filter our sensations in order to recognize the vibration and associate it with the cell phone. The filter, especially as it is being learned, is imperfect and false alarms are bound to occur.
The other theory suggests a more physical cause. Neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to form new connections in response to changes in the environment, can explain the phantom vibrations. When we experience sensations regularly, our brains can become hardwired. When the connection becomes "over-solidified" in the words of Jeffery Janata, the director of behavioral medicine at University Hospitals in Cleveland, the sensations "are easily activated ... They become a habit of the brain." This is similar to the phenomena at work behind the phantom limb pains felt by amputees. The brain rewires itself to utilize the parts of the brain that would have normally received messages from the missing body part. Messages sent to this part of the brain by other limbs are often misinterpreted as sensation from the missing appendage.
From USA Today
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jim said 6:41PM on 12-24-2008
I have called this PHiPs for years...Phone in Pocket Syndrome. I am glad to see others recognize it!
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DHG said 8:47PM on 6-18-2007
Hey, I thought it was just me. I know exactly what they're talking about. It actually happened to me today. It's happened many times in the past. I never said anything to anyone about it because I didn't want them to think I was crazy. Now I know I'm not alone..........
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kate said 9:29PM on 6-18-2007
I have also had that experience, 5 or 6 times. But although the first couple of times felt like my cell phone was vibrating in my pocket, I have since had a couple of big "buzzes" at other places on my torso. ??
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MOLLY said 9:38PM on 6-18-2007
I feel the vibration both when I have my cell phone and even when I don't. I feel the sensation only in the 2 places I carry my phone.
It's just as strong a feeling as the real thing vibrating.
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Ariel said 10:31PM on 6-18-2007
It's hypotheses, not the singular hypothesis, in your usage, and they can all be dismissed here. My phone vibrated in my pocket last week and it was because somehow a button got pushed that set it on vibrate (which I never do), and that's what it did when the change took place.
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Bob said 10:33PM on 6-18-2007
I lost my cell phone a week ago, and didn't have a phone for the week, but felt the vibration on my hip several times after the loss. Didn't think about it much until I saw this article.
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Helen said 10:41PM on 6-18-2007
I agree with all of you and the phantom vibrating. I used to carry me cell phone at work. I noticed that it wasn't actually the feeling of or the cell phone vibrating. It was this strange vibrating in my body, even when i didn't havethe ceel phone on me. I thought it was my imagination. I stopped awhile ago having it hang on my hip. I didn't like the feeling of the vibration or what it possinly could be doing to my body within. Very scary!
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pooh041196 said 10:47PM on 6-18-2007
OH MY! I am so happy that I am not crazy! I get that all the time and it is alway where i carry my phone! My husband and I always laugh about it. He gets it but not nearly as often! Thanks for posting a great article!
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ugonnabmad said 10:55PM on 6-18-2007
hey ladies, maybe its not the phone your missing the vibrating ghost feeling for............... bwahahaha
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gabylopez28 said 8:08PM on 6-22-2007
lol. that happens to me alot when i have the phone in my pocket. i thought i was was going crazy
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SKW said 11:43PM on 6-18-2007
I sometimes think my phone is vibrating. Then I realize it's just that my pants are too tight and rub up against my leg. No one calls me.
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altaimon said 11:51PM on 6-18-2007
Oh, thank you! Glad to find out that I am not nuts! From now on I'll be looking for a reasonable explanation for everything so i'll make sure that I am still sane! :)
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Roy H. M.D. said 10:08PM on 6-22-2007
Wow, I've been experiencing this for the past year. I have never mentioned it to anyone because I could not explain it and I'm a doctor. Good to know others feel the same thing!
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Mikki said 12:44AM on 6-19-2007
Yeah, I've felt those too. I think it's just the buttons or something rubbing against my pocket making it feel like my phone is going off though. That seems like a pretty good explanation considering I don't have a "flip-phone" and all of the buttons protrude.
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John said 11:17AM on 9-12-2007
This always happens to me, too. I always thought it was strange. My friend and I always talk about the strange "phantom vibrations", and when she saw this article, she sent it to me. I think there should be some studies done about this. They may give insight into other human habits, too.
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Sharon Noyes said 1:17AM on 6-19-2007
HA! I thought it was 'cause my nipples are pierced!!!
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Jordan Rivers said 1:45AM on 6-19-2007
Maybe the real reason is...someone just hung up the phone on the other end.
Anyone want to Rock N Roll.....don't call me...just go to my website.....C ya Jordan Rivers, Rock, Blues, Guitarist
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Jean Goldfarb, R,N. said 2:07AM on 6-19-2007
I thought that I was imagining the vibe because it happens even when the phone is not in my left front leg pocket. It is the only pocket that I put it in if I am carrying it on my person. The phone is a flip type so no buttons touch my body. This "phantom" vibe feels exactly like the "real" vibe does when it, (the phone), goes off for real. This sensation only occurs in this one spot on my upper thigh, right where the phone would have been, had I put it in my pocket instead of my purse. I buy into the phantom limb explanation, in that "that" nerve ending has learned to respond to the real, "phone working" vibe, so whether the phone is in that pocket or not, the "Phantom" vibe occurrs with frequent regularity. Thanks for taking me out of the "Twilight Zone".
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Trisha said 9:08PM on 6-19-2007
Gee...personally, I'm wondering these particular scientists in the article might be getting a little ahead of themselves here. Are they absolutely certain that there's no technological basis for these vibrations? Like...are they sure that we're not feeling these phones sending out or receiving signals as they sync with cell phone towers, as an example, or otherwise working away at some task or another while they're sitting in our pockets? I'd want to figure out the answer to that first before being so quick to wonder if phantom vibrations are simply mind games.
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jc said 3:17AM on 6-19-2007
Phantom vibration like from the cell phone...yeah, I got those. I wear my cell phone on my belt, and these spirious vibrations I'd feel bothered me for awhile til I realized what I was feeling was just a little gas rolling around the ol gut. Normally, I wouldn't pay attention to it, except that the sensation is suprisingly similar to the vibrate on my cell phone.
Good luck with your research...
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