Psychological intervention

Conscientiousness

Social psychology

Psychiatry

Extraversion and introversion

Vibration

Acoustics

Environmental health

Imaging phantom

Physics

Big Five personality traits

Psychology

Optics

Population

Medicine

Clinical psychology

Nuclear medicine

Audiology

Personality

Computers in Human Behavior

'Phantom vibration syndrome,' or perceived vibrations from a device that is not really vibrating, is a recent psychological phenomenon that has attracted the attention of the media and medical community. Most (89%) of the 290 undergraduates in our sample had experienced phantom vibrations, and they experienced them about once every two weeks, on average. However, few found them bothersome. Those higher in conscientiousness experienced phantom vibrations less frequently, and those who had strong reactions to text messages (higher in the emotional reaction subscale of text message dependence) were more bothered by phantom vibrations. These findings suggest that targeting individuals' emotional reactions to text messages might be helpful in combating the negative consequences of both text message dependency and phantom vibrations. However, because few young adults were bothered by these phantom vibrations or made attempts to stop them, interventions aimed at this population may be unnecessary.

Phantom vibrations among undergraduates: Prevalence and associated psychological characteristics