Posted by: Gareth on Wednesday, April 23, 2008
There is a new phobia haunting us citizens of today’s 24/7 techno society – nomophobia. It means the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.
Apparently, millions of us are so dependent on our mobiles that discovering it is out of power or simply misplacing it sends stress levels soaring.
Thankfully, researchers have suggested some handy tips for minimising the risks of nomophobia: keep your credit topped up, carry a charger, give family and friends an alternative contact number and carry a pre-paid phonecard to make emergency calls if your mobile is broken, lost or stolen. Phew, thanks for those.
Alternatively, you could just switch the darn thing off and, in the words of one of our favourite Depeche Mode songs, enjoy the silence.
Posted by: Gareth on Tuesday, April 8, 2008
We’ve been doing some work on headline writing in our workshops recently. It reminded me of the story behind one of our favourite ever headlines …
Inverness Caledonian Thistle (or ‘Caley’), a Scottish football team from the lower divisions (apologies to any Scottish readers), were playing Glasgow Celtic in the cup. This is the equivalent of, say, Northwich Victoria playing Manchester United.
Anyhow, in one of the biggest upsets in Scottish football, Inverness won, against a woeful Celtic, spawning the headline:
‘Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious.’
I bet the journalist who came up with that one has been dining out on it ever since.
Do you know any better ones? If you do, let us know using the comments link below. We’ll be compiling the best ones for a future post.
