Maybe it is wrong to call this a phobia.
For a phobia is generally an 'irrational fear', and that pang of anxiety when you are without your mobile in this brave new connected world is perhaps an understandable feeling.
But either way, for 66 per cent of us, being with your phone at all times is an obsession that occupies every waking minute.
If you think you may suffer from nomophobia - or 'no mobile phone phobia' - then the warning signs are:
- An inability to ever turn your phone off
- Obsessively checking for missed calls, emails and texts
- Constantly topping up your battery life
- Being unable to pop to the bathroom without taking your phone in with you.
The number of people afflicted with nomophobia was revealed in a study by SecurEnvoy, and shows a rise from a similar study four years ago, where 53 per cent of people admitted the fear of losing their phone.
In the latest study, of the 1,000 people surveyed in the UK, 66 percent said they felt the fear.
Young adults - aged between 18 and 24 - tended to be the most addicted to their mobile phones, with 77 per cent unable to stay apart for more than a few minutes, and those aged 25 to 34 followed at 68 per cent.
That number is up from a similar study four years ago, where 53 percent of people admitted to the phobia.
as peresented on: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
.png)