TEDU 537

Even when they aren't texting, they are waiting, hoping, imagining that someone is trying to reach them—it's been dubbed Phantom Vibration Syndrome. One student of mine admitted in a journal entry that she often "fake texts" while waiting for class to start or standing in line. She doesn't want to look "like a loser in public."

Why this obsessive need to stay in touch, this fear of being unconnected? "Our generation is afraid that we might miss something, that we might fall out of the loop," one of my students confessed in an assigned reflection. Another student echoed that idea and took it a step further: "I want to keep the peace with my friends, so I make myself available 24/7."

When we allow for intimacy, we open ourselves to two of the most dreaded conditions in our culture—vulnerability and failure.