Are You Addicited to Texting?

Unfortunately this booth isn’t big enough for one to change into superhero attire…at least not without attracting unwanted attention. Then again, how could you not attract attention wearing a mini-booth on your head.

I was reading this online article about how two ‘tweens in Spain, ages 12 and 13, were admitted to a psychiatric facility for their cell phone addiction (news article) when I thought to myself, I should add a texting package to my phone. So I did.

For a mere $10, I can send and receive limitless text messages from my Verizon-using pals and exchange 500 texts with people on *other* networks. If you have my cell phone number, you can now text me and I can text you without having to pay 20 cents to send and receive messages. I know that y’all are probably psyched out of your minds, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be Twittering. I may even consider adding Web 2.0 capabilities in November. I’m so high-tech.

However, I doubt I’ll get addicted like these two kiddos, whose parents didn’t limit their phone usage until it was too late and the kids simply couldn’t function without their phones. Here’s an interesting quote about one of the doctors treating kids with this addiction, “Dr Jose Martinez-Raga, an expert in addictions, said children who developed a dependency on mobile phones, like those who over-used video games, often became irritable, withdrawn and antisocial, and their school performance deteriorated.”

This begs the question–what are they doing on their cell phones? Originally, before texting and all that, phones were used as a means of vocal communication. Now a person can play music, surf the web, Twitter, Blog, and blow up small islands in the South Pacific. While I’m sure these kids do all that, aren’t they like, I dunno, TALKING on their phones? If so, why are they so cranky, withdrawn, and antisocial? Shouldn’t a phone help a kid be, in fact, more social? Is the radiation from the phone absorbing into these kids’ brains and causing some sort of cerebral malfunction?

Fortunately, I can lose my electronic leash any time I want to…but my computer…well, that’s another story.