The Washington Post today carries a story on text messaging among teens, focusing on one striking example: Julie Zingeser texts at home, at school, in the car while her mother is driving. She texts during homework, after pompon practice and as she walks the family dog. She takes her cellphone with her to bed. Every so often, the hum of a new message rouses the Rockville teen from sleep. "I would die without it," Julie, 15, says of her text life. This does not surprise her mother, Pam, who on one recent afternoon scans the phone bill for the eye-popping number that puts an exclamation point on how growing up has changed in the digital age. In one busy month, Pam finds, her youngest daughter sent and received 6,473 text messages. (St. George) According to Nielsen Co., the average teenager with a mobile phone sends 2,272 text messages a month. "It's a huge cultural phenomenon," says University of Michigan psychology professor David E. Meyer, "with huge down-the-road consequences". And Mimi Ito at the University of California-Irvine notes, "It can be a very socially affirming thing." Indeed, text messaging has changed the social landscape. The Post is currently running three unscientific polls spanning all age groups with the article. Among 1,720 respondents so far, 57% use email as their primary means of communication after face-to-face conversation. 1,619 responded to a question about how many text messages one sends each month. Only 6% acknowledge sending more than 1,000. 18% say more than ten, and 19% more than 100. Of 1,461 who answered a question about what they use text messages for, 26% said they make plans, 24% carry on conversations. Only 1% acknowledged they use text messages to flirt. Text messages are hardly a curse, but neither are they the greatest thing since the wheel: For families, the text world can bring convenience as never before in arranging rides, doing errands, letting parents know of changing plans. But some experts say there are downsides, starting with declines in spelling, word choice and writing complexity. Some suggest too much texting is related to an inability to focus. There also are concerns about texting while driving, text-bullying and "sexting," or the term for adolescents messaging naked photos of themselves or others. (St. George) The situation has become so conflicted that psychiatrist Jerald Block has suggested text message addiction should be added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual defining mental illness. Zingeser's habit clocks in at an average of just under 215 text messages a day, or nine an hour if she never slept. That's approximately one text message every seven minutes of her life. If she never slept. The average teenager sleeps six hours a day, which brings that to twelve an hour, or one every five minutes. Do those numbers suggest a problem? And if so, what exactly is the problem? After all, it's well enough to say that the problem is sending too many text messages, but in psychological terms that is insufficient. What is the attachment? Why does messaging become so important? I'm one who had to be forced to carry a mobile phone after my former partner cut off our land line in order to afford more drinks at the bar. My family, mortified at the prospect of being cut off from emergency services while caring for an infant, compelled me to carry a mobile phone. I hate the things. Even after several years, I'm still not accustomed to the idea of someone being able to reach me wherever I am. I mean, we all know the myth about the phone ringing as soon as you get into the shower; still, though, I also know the myth of answering the phone in the men's room and dropping it into the urinal. I don't answer the phone in restrooms, and I'm always a little curious about those who do. What's so important about the call? I've reached people in strange places and at strange times, and it's almost as difficult to hear someone in a crowded restroom as if they were at a rock concert. Really, finish taking a shit, or call me back when the band is finished. And no, I cannot easily imagine myself texting while perched on the porcelain throne. But I'm starting to feel a little strange for that. Every seven minutes of my life? I think I would prefer the oblivion of a cold box six feet under. ______________________ Notes: St. George, Donna. "6,473 Texts a Month, But at What Cost?" Washington Post. February 22, 2009; page A01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/21/AR2009022101863.html
Cellphones are evil ! It's perhaps caused by some sort of mental illness, not mental illness in itself.
(Insert Title Here) I would agree. But, still, what is the diagnosis, and what is the treatment? That's where I'm getting hung up.
It sounds like OCD. I'd suggest the standard treatment Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
This is just a new communication way for humans, same as speech. I am sure someone in pre-historic age some common known neanderthal started throwing sticks at other dudes in the cave when they tried to speak...its just natural you know.
I am saying that there is nothing wrong with text messaging. Its a natural evolution for humans to adapt new communication ways to interact with each other. Its more of a happiness that we have developed something like this. And I am also sure that others just like Tiassa were quick to place "mental" and "illness" on something new in the town.
Every seven minutes, Draqon. That's sick. I'm not sure if discussing metal fatigue would be on topic here.
Not at all...If you think into it, it would be natural for it to progress to every couple of seconds of communication. It should be as natural as talking, hand-free, wireless, integrated within. I welcome the new age Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I meant "mental" with an n...chill
Don't be stupid. Text messaging every seven minutes is sick, it would control your life. You wouldn't be able to much else.
not if it is integrated directly inside a retina. Imagine, just imagine eyeglasses with integrated lcd screen and ability to text message with eye movement and lip movement and text everyone and stay connected with everyone. What a marvelous day that would be! No limit, full connection to everyone at the same time.
Psychiatry, neurology, psychology OCD is psychiatric and neurological. I'm thinking this is more psychological, like other surrogates for reality. That is, even at the average of 2,272, or just under 76 text messages a day, it seems problematic. Three messages an hour if one never sleeps? The average teenager sleeps about six hours a day, so that's eighteen hours awake. Four text messages an hour? One every fifteen minutes? I would suggest that in these cases, text messaging is a surrogate socialization. The joke about mobile phones is the one that used to pop up in movies where two characters are talking on their phones as they approach each other and keep talking, even after meeting face to face, until they finish that part of the conversation. If the problem was psychiatric or neurological, we would have seen something else in its place before text messaging. I can't figure out what that was, though. Psychologically, yes, there would be something else in its place, but the potential forms are more diverse. And, psychologically, this behavior can develop and evolve. For instance, parents and their children have long had communication difficulties. When I was a kid, experts pleaded with parents to spend a half-hour of "quality time" with their kids each day. A few years ago—that is, during my daughter's lifetime—I saw a news article in which that number had declined to fifteen minutes. One could, for instance, suggest that as a greater proportion of communication between parents and kids becomes electronic, the kids are adapting, and their socialization patterns reflect that transformation. But I don't think this, in and of itself, explains the phenomenon. And I'm not sure how thrilled I would be to dose up thousands of teenagers with clomipramine, although it is indicated for children as young as ten. I think what we're seeing is a reaction to circumstance and environment, but beyond that it's a tough question. I'll run it by a psychologist I know, but teenagers aren't his speciality, so we'll see what comes.
I don't know.. it seems awfully like obsessive behavior to me. Obviously she has no problem socializing the normal way. How else did she get all those friends to message ? Text messaging a lot is one thing, but this is way over the top.
Do you do it ? Do you know anyone who does it, even from hearsay ? Do you think this kind of behavior is normal today ?
Yes I do it. Yes it is normal. I also expect the number of text messages and their frequency to increase.
The results, so far, from one of the polls on the page of the article: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
This and that I should note that I've corrected the numbers in the topic post. The arithmetical error I committed didn't change the daily averages much. But I have now also accounted for the average teenager sleeping six hours a day, which pushes Ms. Zingeser's averages to twelve an hour, or one every five minutes. • • • I actually think SMS is a good thing. And I do occasionally trade messages quickly. But in the WaPo poll, I answered that I sent more than ten messages a month; it's not very exact, since the real number is probably closer to a hundred. Probably fifty to seventy a month. In fact, I think just about anyone who has used SMS has had one of those experiences where the messages just keep coming. After about the third or fourth message (total), I usually just call the person. I can't stand stopping every couple of minutes to rattle out a new text message. One of the key transitions between an aberrant behavior and mental illness is when the behavior presents an impairment to mundane functions. So, yeah, 2,272 messages a month—one every fifteen minutes—is hard enough to imagine. One every five minutes? What does dinner look like in the Zingeser household? What is the young lady like in class? Or does she frantically fire off messages between classes, and hole up in her room after school and text people? Every five minutes, Draqon. At what point do you think text messaging impairs mundane function? Every three minutes?
