Does Texting Hurt Teens? Some Say Yes

If you're a parent who frets about how much time your child spends sending and reading text messages, you're in good company.

Doctors and psychologists have begun raising red flags about the effects of incessant texting, The New York Times reported.
American teenagers send and receive dozens, perhaps hundreds, of texts a day. The habit seems to be triggering a variety of problems, including repetitive stress injury, sleep deprivation, anxiety and falling grades, health experts told The Times.

"If you're being deluged by constant communication, the pressure to answer immediately is quite high," psychologist Sherry Turkle told the newspaper. "If you’re in the middle of a thought, forget it."

Texting may also interfere with normal adolescent development, making it tougher for teens to separate from their parents. "Now you have adolescents who are texting their mothers 15 times a day, asking things like, 'Should I get the red shoes or the blue shoes?'" Turkle said.

Teens haven't been texting for that long, so there's no scientifically sound data on the health impact. Check out the Times story for more anecdotes about some harmful side effects of too much texting.