Gryphon's Word of the Day, April 8, 2008

The word of the day for April 8, 2008 is "nomophobia" — noun — : fear of being without a mobile or cell phone.

I did the Crickler puzzles first thing this morning. Their crossless crossword puzzles are both a way of keeping my spelling and vocabulary skills sharp, but also pique the newshound in me. One of the clues in today's London Times section was tied to a story about a reporter, Francesca Steele, who agreed to spend a week without her mobile phone. She found that her experience was a tradeoff between convenience and relaxation. Her conclusion is that she would rather have the connectivity of a mobile.

We dropped our land line about six years ago. There have been a few problems with our cell phones, but I don't think I will go back to the land line until I can't remember to recharge the batteries. At that time, I probably will have no need of a phone anyway. Mind you, I don't text—I prefer a full-sized keyboard—and I am not allowed photo capability in the office or plant. That cuts down on a great deal of activity on the phone. Mostly I call my husband to check on him or make appointments with our myriad doctors. I also get calls for someone with a vaguely Middle Eastern sounding name to buy pharmaceuticals. These calls are somehow tied to the use of my Master Card using my phone number as the contact. No one has used my MC so far, but I'm seriously thinking of changing the phone number. Of course, changing the phone number to avoid nuisance calls was how I got this one. Y'can't win.

Our quote for the day is from a commentor, Victor Compton, Cherbourg, France:

     None of this occurs if you run your life in an orderly manner, always arrive early for
     appointments, only cultivate real friendships rather than "pub-buddies" and reduce your
     activities beyond work to give yourself time to THINK.

;^) Jan

Tags: nomophobia