Are You a Hyper-Texter?

I would say that my generation was the first generation of texters. I can remember being a freshmen in high-school sitting in US History texting my life away. Back then, I had a Nokia 930 Pre-Paid Phone. I had around 100 text messages that I could send out for the month, and I would always exceed the limit. Now that phones are more advanced and plans cater to my texting style so im never really off my phone.

I came across this article in CNN-Technology and it states that teenagers who hypertext and hypernetwork are more susceptible to develop poor health behaviors and poor behavioral habits. Hypertexting is defined as: sending more than 120 text messages in one day. Hypernetworking is defined as: spending 3.5 hours or more on a social network such as facebook, myspace, twitter etc...

A study done by Western Reserve School of Medicine states that teenagers who hypertext are:
-- two times more likely to have tried alcohol
-- nearly 3.5 times more likely to have had sex
-- 40 percent more likely to have tried cigarettes
-- 41 percent more likely to have used illicit drugs
-- 43 percent more likely to be binge drinkers
-- 55 percent more likely to have been in a physical fight
-- 90 percent more likely to report four or more sexual partners

The same study states that teens who hypernetwork are:
-- 60 percent more likely to report four or more sexual partners
-- 62 percent more likely to have tried cigarettes
-- 69 percent more likely to be binge drinkers
-- 69 percent more likely to have had sex
-- 79 percent more likely to have tried alcohol
-- 84 percent more likely to have used illicit drugs
-- 94 percent more likely to have been in a physical fight

Researchers also stated that minority teenagers with one parent household are more likely to engage in hypertexting and hypernetworking.

Personally I don't agree with the last statement. I believe that "most" teenage minorities in single parent households do not have the money to afford cell phone plans that allow then to exceed 120 text messages a day, or stay socially connected on social networks for 3.5 hours or more.

I do believe that hypertexting and hypernetworking promote bad grammar skills among teenagers. Teenagers get into a habit of abbreviating words and using slang so much that they forget the proper way to complete a full sentence. There are more avenues of conversation, technology has has allowed teens everywhere to converse more easily and secretively making peer pressure more prevalent then it has been in the past, thus making more teens engaged in these acts stated above.