it has been talked about and hyped up for more than a year, but a basic evolutionary instinct could end up putting people off buying the new apple iwatch for once it is nothing to do with the price of the wearable technology, but the basic layout of the screen can apparently trigger a sense of 'fear' in those who are susceptible the hexagonal appearance of the iwatch's apps on its small screen can cause trypophobia which is a fear of holes scroll down for video  freaking out! some potential buyers of the new apple iwatch (left) say they are suffering from panic attacks and feelings of trypophobia after seeing the layout of the screen  honey to the bee: trypophobia is the uncontrollable and completely irrational fear of objects that have an irregular pattern of holes  in fact, the reaction can be so severe that even seeing photos of holes can set off a panic attack until recently, it didn't garner much attention from scientists or doctors however the phenomenon appears to be more widespread than first thought there is a facebook group devoted to those who believe they are sufferers according to the website trypophobiacom, the phobia is a 'weird kind' and is generally considered as the fear of shapes usually, the fear is caused by shapes created by nature such as the holes in a beehive or the seeds in a pod, but if arranged in the right order, man made objects such as the iwatch can also elicit a similar response a number of people have now taken to twitter to voice their reaction at seeing the display for the hi tech device 'the apple watch is a cluster of circles no no no no', wrote one, whilst another showed a similar reaction: 'anyone else getting a weird trypophobic reaction to the apple watch? i'm sorry i ever learned about that phobia existing!' side by side: twitter is now full of comparisons between the iwatch and occurrences in nature of  weird: many people do not realize they have the phobia until they see an object that triggers the reaction  new found fear? trypophobia is not recognized as a condition in the american psychiatric association's diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders or other scientific literature  apple unveiled the much anticipated apple watch on monday the basic watch sells for $349, but other models sell for $10,000 and higher a couple of years ago, researchers at the university of essex conducted research into the phobia it was concluded that it is not the holes that people fear but their brains associating the holes with danger the study suggested the widespread, predominantly latent phobia is associated with ancient threats such as beehives, poisonous flowers and venomous creatures the reaction to these holes is intense 'these can make them feel that their skin is crawling, shudder, feel itchy and physically sick when seeing these images because they really find it disgusting and gross some of these people think that something might be living inside those holes and some of them are afraid that they might fall in these holes,' the website explains despite people trying to convince themselves that there is no danger, not least from a watch, trypophobes have an unconscious reflex reaction that they can't control human nature: the holes, or images of holes, stimulate 'a primitive portion of his or her brain that associates the image with something dangerous'
monday 349 apple
everyday objects with many closely packed holes can be a trigger for people who report suffering from trypophobia  the circular layout of apps on the apple iwatch can trigger panic attacks  the predominantly latent phobia is associated with ancient threats such as beehives and venous creatures  the iwatch was launched on monday with prices starting at $349 