Thrall

[UPDATE:  The word Thrall can be easily found online.  Someone politely mentioned this so I'm updating the post with a link to Wikipedia.  Original post on 8/17/202 at 02:31 PM.]

    I didn't know what the title of this post meant the first time I heard it.  A few poorly done Google searches didn't find a definition.  If I had to guess it's a shortened version of enthralled.  But that's just a guess.

• Thrall on Wikipedia

   For now I'll pass on explaining where I heard the term.  It's not important (for the time being).  But I can describe the effect that word thrall was used in reference to.

   At work, home, and in my previous car there have been times I could feel caught in something.  My body would both tense up and feel frozen in place at the same time.  Tinnitus would set in moments afterward.  Where did the source of it seem to be?  It depends on where I was:

• At work - my laptop LCD display and external LCD monitors
• At home - my laptop LCD display, external LCD monitors, and bathroom mirror
• In my previous car - the entertainment system LCD display

   There was a prickly and staticky feeling I'd get when in front of those things.  It seemed to cause the connection we all have between our thoughts and vocalization/subvocalization to become exaggerated.   Another way of describing that would be I had to fight every thought that went through my head to keep from saying it out loud.

   Pretty bizarre, right?

   I initially thought the displays themselves were generating the effect until the bathroom mirror started doing it.

   I had it backwards.  Again.

   Whatever I was getting hit with was reflecting off them from somewhere else.  To be more specific it seemed like they were focusing whatever was being generated.  And it extended far enough out that other people were getting caught in it too.  By adjusting the angle of the LCD displays the effect could be decreased a little.  I've ignored the bathroom mirror though.  It's not adjustable.

   What did it take to stop the effect?

   Putting my hand up between the LCD display and me.

   I've gone back and forth on trying to figure out the cause.  Thankfully the car has a limited number of potential culprits and few places to hide anything.  Looking at a diagram for the keyless entry system there are 3 interior antennas:

• One just below the LCD display
• One between the front seats
• One in the passenger side rear pillar

   There's one other possible source I have with me all the time.

   My cellphone.