You swear you feel your phone buzzing in your pocket. But when you take it out to check, you see no notifications.
Don’t worry – you’re not going crazy. Thinking you hear your phone vibrating when it’s not doing anything is actually pretty normal.
In a study in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, 89 per cent of people experienced “phantom vibrations” from their phones about once every two weeks.
“We’re attuned to listening for signals, like a vibration, that alert us to a text or phone call,” says study author Dr Michelle Drouin. “If you associate a text message with something potentially significant, as many people do, you come to expect those signals.”
You’re especially likely to imagine the sounds when you’re stressed or anticipating an important message, she adds.
If you’re fed up with these false alarms, try this: for a few hours every day, move your phone out of reach and turn it off or to silent mode.
Repeat for a week, Drouin says, and you’ll likely see improvement.