I realize I should be picking a new device to analyze, but over the past couple of days I have experienced certain technology-related behaviors that deserve notice.

Whether it be a cell-phone, computer, or TV remote; I believe one side affect of such mediums is technological anxiety.  Now, I'm not simply talking about feeling out of touch without your phone for a day, because that comes hand in hand with being disconnected from people or the world.  The particular type of anxiety I wish to dissect is that of the instant feeling of uncertainty when you lose control of the way you connect to media.

Let's take a group of people watching Television as an example.  I postulate that in every group of media consumers, there is at least one person who experiences anxiety when they lose control of the TV remote, phone, or computer.

In fact, just this past weekend a good friend of mine was trying to show me some new iPhone apps.  As soon as I tried to explore one before he had the chance to explain it, he became subtly frustrated with his lack of control.

I believe this is becoming a new form of social anxiety; and as technology becomes faster and more direct, I can't imagine this stopping any time soon.