Teen Texting: Is Your Child Texting Too Much?
2009 May 28 by: Scott
According to the Nielson company, 75 billion text messages are sent each month. Teens 13 to 17 years of age are the biggest texters sending and receiving an average 2,272 text per month. This averages 70-80 text messages per day. The New York Times says the growing use of texting among teenagers is beginning to take its toll and some physicians and psychologist are beginning to share their concerns. “All the texting kids do creates anxiety, keeps them from getting enough sleep, and causes repetitive stress injuries.”
Dangers of Too Much Texting
- Is you child getting enough sleep at night if he or she is sending and receiving text while they are suppose to be sleeping?
- Appropriate communication lessons and applications are not being practiced. Educators, psychiatrist and mental health professionals are concerns about children not practicing proper face-to-face communication techniques that are necessary in developing appropriate social and language skills.
- Does texting cause teen car accidents? The answer is, yes! Over 60 percent of teens in the U.S. admit to risky driving, and nearly half of those that admit to risky driving also admit to text messaging while they are driving. In 2002, the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis calculated that 2,600 people die each year as a result of using cell phones while driving. They estimated that another 330,000 are injured.
- Can too much texting cause damage to the hands? The medical field is beginning to share their concerns of “repetitive strain injuries” on the hands due to too much texting.
- Can too much texting cause your child to fail classes, be late to work and not participate in regular family activities? This is a concern shared by many educators, youth leaders, business leaders and parents.
Teen texting is no worse than kids reading comics in the 30s or talking for hours on the phone in the 60s, 70s and 80s, all of which were worried over in the same way.
Teen texting is getting out of control for my daughter. She uses it as a way to communicate with people I do not know. Even as a 17 year old living under my roof, I will be taking the phone away from her for a month since it was only supposed to serve as a means for emergency communications. She pays for her calls and texts, however, this money was supposed to be saved for a car. As the parent, I need to set the guidelines for adherence until the children move out on their own. Everyone believes my daughter is sweet, but she has had sex with a boy she continues to text non-stop daily do I do not know what is going on whereas with the land-line cord phone, I can monitor conversations.
Texting Parenting Tip: This tip worked with my teen daughters…
“I will pay for your texting as long as the phone is on my dresser by 10 p.m. every school night and 12 a.m. on the weekends.” You may want to adjust the times to fit your child’s age and needs.