I always think I feel my phone vibrating

[AspieChris]

It happens to me 100 times every day. I swear that my phone is vibrating in my pocket, or that I can hear it vibrating next to me on the couch. But I scramble to get to it before it goes to voicemail and there’s nothing. It’s just one more piece of my environment that steals any hope of getting any peacefulness during the day. It’s especially annoying when I’m driving.

Is it just me? Is it just Aspies? Or is it happening to everyone?

 

[Outdated]

A touch of OCD like someone checking that a door is locked five times before they go to bed?

Try leaving it in a different room and see how long you can go without checking it.

 

[Slime_Punk]

This used to happen to me all the time until i just turned the vibrate function off. I don't think I've used it for the past few years simply because feeling a phantom rumble on my leg was getting annoying.

I've heard this is very normal, BTW. When we come to expect something like this, I guess our mind just runs with it. Likewise, I swear I always hear my phone from afar when I'm in the shower simply due to how many times it rings when I'm in there, my mind has just come to anticipate it now.

 

[Misty Avich]

Why would it be just Aspies? Lol

I often think I can hear my phone ringing but I think it's to do with my inner ears making little tinnitus-like noises.

 

[MrJingles]

Thats Phantom Vibration Syndrome. Its a harmless tactile hallucination when your brain is expecting something to happen. I get it too!

 

[Tom]

Is there a reason you don't use ringtone instead?

 

[Rodafina]

A strong anxiety arose for me expecting communication alerts. I have all alerts turned off and I need to go looking for them to see if they’re there. I’ve done this for a few years now and the communication anxiety is gone.

 

[Xinyta]

I have had this happen in recent times. I'll feel a vibration in my pocket, check my phone, and see no alerts. Same with hearing the vibration sound my phone makes. I'll sometimes think I hear my phone vibrating, or making the text sound. Check and same thing.

I do think my brain likes messing with me.

 

[AspieChris]

A touch of OCD like someone checking that a door is locked five times before they go to bed?

Try leaving it in a different room and see how long you can go without checking it.

I have actually forgotten to take it with me to work and didn’t even notice until I needed to make a call.

For me it’s more of a convenience and a necessary evil than an addiction.

 

[AspieChris]

I hate hearing a phone ring. It makes me feel like Pavlov’s dog. And I prefer to not think about a phone call coming in unless I am expecting one. So I prefer vibration.

 

[Luca]

As others have said, it’s a pretty common tactile hallucination, especially when your brain has been trained to expect a lot of text notifications.
This happens to me a lot as well, especially thinking I’m hearing my phone from my bedroom when I’m in the shower (which is an auditory hallucination but is still a conditioned response.)

I’m in multiple group text chats and get (I’m not exaggerating) upwards of 100 messages a day, which is insanely annoying, so I mostly keep my phone in my purse unless I have a legitimate reason to pull it out. If it’s in my purse I can’t usually feel it vibrating so I don’t think about it.
If it’s an emergency, they will likely call, not text, so I would notice that.

 

[AspieChris]

I think that all of this ‘perpetual connectivity’ is killing us. Remember when you could only be at home to get a phone call? And texting wasn’t even a word? Life was simpler then….. and better for me.

 

[Outdated]

It's something I never experienced. I spent a decade living in an area where if you wanted phone access you had to get in the car and drive 70 Km away. I didn't like it when I moved to the city and the thing kept squawking at me all the time. So it doesn't vibrate and the alarm tone volume is turned down low.

If I'm expecting a call I'll keep the phone near me but normally it just sits on charge at the back of my computer. I look at it most days to see if there's any messages but I forget to quite often as well. I rarely take it with me when I go out, especially if I'm socialising, why would I want it with me?

To me it's just a phone like the one I had back in the 70s.

 

[AspieChris]

There’s a LOT more people diagnosed on the spectrum today than 30 years ago. I was obviously the same person back then. I’m certain that my grandfather was the same as me. But in his day there weren’t cell phones, instagram, internet, satellite tv, led lighting, etc.

Is it possible that the “advances” in our world only illuminated the condition we now call Asperger’s, even though it existed forever?

My cell phone is ruining my life, but I can’t live without it. I’m using it to chat with you all, but if I didn’t need it every day, for EVERYTHING ….. I probably wouldn’t be thinking about my situation and I wouldn’t be chatting with you all. I’d probably be getting off the couch and doing something productive.

 

[Outdated]

....but I can’t live without it. I’m using it to chat with you all....

Get yourself a laptop and relegate the phone to another room, it'll probably help save your sanity.

I’d probably be getting off the couch and doing something productive.

I'm old enough to know better about that one. You'd be sitting in front of the TV like a vegetable and thinking about doing something productive.

At least when you chat to us you have to interact.