Feeling of phone ringing caused by cell phone addiction

Washington: The feeling that your phone is vibrating or ringing when it is not - known as phantom communication experiences - is linked to your cell phone dependency and technology addiction, a new study has found.

Daniel Kruger from University of Michigan in the US said his findings may add to the body of research used to support the inclusion of mobile phone or technology addiction.

"When people have addictions, there is a phenomenon in which they are hypersensitive to stimuli associated with a rewarding stimulus," said Kruger.

"This study provides some real insight and maybe some evidence that people can have a real dependency on cell phone use," Kruger added.

Researchers recruited 766 undergraduates students, 384 of which were women and 382 men.

The study participants first completed the Ten Item Personality Inventory, which assesses personality characteristics - openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability or neuroticism.

They were then asked if they had experienced phantom ringing, vibrations or notifications from their phones. If they answered yes, they recorded how frequently they had experienced the phantom alerts.

The participants also responded to statements from a survey called the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale, including whether the students used their phones to make themselves feel better, to talk to others when feeling isolated, and if they felt anxious when forced to turn off their phones.

Kruger found that those who scored as more conscientious and emotionally stable had lower phone dependency symptoms. Women also reported higher phone dependency symptoms.

The study was published in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour.