Hypertexting....leads to more Sex, Money, Drugs?

According to CNN Teens who engage in hypertexting, which is the act of sending at least 120 text messages a day or more, are more prone to abuse drugs and alcohol. They are also more prone to engage in sexual activity. This is based on a new study that was conducted by the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine which links what society deems as “poor health behaviors “ (such as smoking, drinking and sexual activity) to hypertexting. Scott Frank, who is the lead researcher behind the study claims that this should be a real “wake up call for parents”, to help their children stay safe by discouraging “excessive” use of the cell phone. The study was conducted on teens from the Midwest and according to the results: According to the study, teens who are hypertexters 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


"We are not saying texting causes these behaviors," he stressed. "We can recognize that these kinds of connections ... may be facilitating or enabling these kinds of behaviors”.


Nevertheless, these kinds of studies are creating more fear for an already fear oriented society. Although, this is not the first study to blame texting and social networking for the various negative turnouts amongst teen such as: the rise in accidents and the promotion of poor grammar. It seems as though society is blaming everything and everyone but the parents of the teens falling into these categories, for the lack of control and discipline for their own children. I have never heard my mother or any of my friends parents for that matter blame our cell phones for the times we have gotten into accidents or have been pulled over, etc… They hold us accountable for whatever negative situations occur and talk to us on how to prevent it. However, I do not believe it is fair to blame an object for a person’s choice on how to use that object. Overall, I hear you researchers but let some of these teens and parent figure how they need to raise their kids so that they can decided whether they should pay attention to the road or text. And when it comes to whether or not drugs, sex, and alcohol is worth abusing, parents….do your part stop blaming the cell phone you purchased for your child. The lack of discipline and control is not something most people purchase cell phones to teach so how and why would we blame the absence of these two attributes on an object? American society never ceases to amaze me.

Perhaps we should all ride bikes :)


Sources:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/11/10/hyper.texting.teens/index.html