Anne Jolis

Steve Jobs’s button phobia has shaped the modern world

It’s time for those of us with an irrational fear of touchscreens to have a say

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Koumpounophobia is the fear of buttons. Steve Jobs had it — or at least a strong aversion, which explained his affinity for touch-screens and turtlenecks. So do an estimated one of every 75,000 people alive today.

Your correspondent was only recently made aware of the phenomenon when a friend, K of Cambridge, requested that I refrain from wearing buttoned shirts in his presence.

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