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We asked, you told us: Phantom vibrations are still surprisingly common
August 03, 2025
Have you ever reached into your pocket for yoursmartphonebecause you felt a vibration only to find it’s fast asleep with no calls, messages, or pending notifications? Congrats, you’ve experienced aphantom vibration. It’s a curious phenomenon believed to be more of a habit or momentary hallucination than a health issue. Nevertheless, it can be unpleasant.
That said, we wanted to know from you if you’ve ever experienced phantom vibrations. Here’s how you polled.
Have you had phantom vibrations when your phone was in your pocket?
More than 1,800 readers took part in our poll, and the results showcase just how widespread phantom vibrations are among our readers. More than four in five respondents admit to experiencing phantom vibrations at least once before. Just 19.9% of readers have not experienced the phenomenon.
Interestingly, inanother pollwe ran earlier this month, only 14.8% of respondents use the silent profile on their devices. Nearly 80% of the polled readers use either the sound profile or vibrate profile.
Although phantom vibrations have been apparent well before the dawn of the smartphone, some sources attribute the phenomenon to our growing attachment to technology. It’s not a new thing, though. Pager users experienced something similar. When people still used phones as their name suggests, “ringxiety” was the equivalent, too.
Nevertheless, readers give their theories for the phenomenon and how they beat phantom vibrations below.
Here’s what you told us
That’s it for this poll! Thanks for your votes and comments. If you have any additional anecdotes about phantom vibrations or thoughts on the poll results, be sure to drop them down below.
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