The Times Reports on this week's modern malady. "Phantom rings", when you think you hear your cellphone ringing and, of course, you don't. (And yes, I know that modern 'mobiles' no longer work on cellular technology, so 'cellphone' is now an archaic and outdated term. But hey, I'm an archaic and outdated kinda guy, and I prefer saying 'cellphone' to 'mobile phone', so screw you.) Anyway, the article says...
Some sound experts believe that because cellphones have become a fifth limb for many, people now live in a constant state of phone vigilance, and hearing sounds that seem like a telephone's ring can send an expectant brain into action.Hm. Sound experts, you say? Glad to see them venturing so far afield into such tightly-related fields as Cognitive Psychology (and, apparently, anatomy as well! Not to go off on a tangent here, but technically a limb is a "jointed appendage", so I guess candy-bar style handsets would not qualify, while flip-phones would.)
And my whole purpose in mentioning this at all? I can do you one better than hearing phantom phone sounds. This started around the time I carried a Treo 180: I actually, from time to time, get phantom muscle spasms at the top of my right thigh that feel exactly like the awkward clacking buzz of a Treo phone set to "vibrate." Which is weird cause I haven't carried that 180, or the 600 I replaced it with, for months now...
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