Even men fake it according to 3… to avoid looking lonely.

According to a survey by 3 a third of men and 74% of 18-24 year olds are guilty of Communifaking.  3 define Communifaking as:

“simulating social interaction via telephone in order to avoid looking like a Billy-no-mates”.

In other words, pretending to be on the phone when you aren’t. Imagine you’re in the pub on a Wednesday night waiting for a date or your friends to turn up.  Not wishing to look like a loser or risk eye contact with that huge tattooed bloke at the bar you pick up your mobile and pretend you’re:

a) testing the person who is late to check they’re ok.  You’re such a nice guy, and certainly not sitting there peeved that you’ve been let down, again.

or, b) emailing your colleagues to sort out a last minute work issue.  You’re important enough to let the minnions fix things whilst you relax with a pint.

Don’t worry, women do it to and 35% also said they used their phone to avoid speaking to someone they’ve just spotted.  How rude!

“These days many people, especially young people, feel the constant need to be communicating, so we either text, call, instant message, social network or e-mail,” says Lesley Haswell, psychotherapist at Haswell, Martin & Rose.

“Social status can be defined by the amount of friends we have on Facebook or how often our mobiles beep.  Therefore people experience the need to appear socially busy at all times and ‘just waiting’ is a no-no. Our basic human instinct is to be part of a group. Alone we can feel more vulnerable.”

So next time you sit alone in a pub, playing with your phone, don’t feel too bad.  You’re not alone – thousands of losers do the same… me included 😉