The research found that girls are especially at risk because they compulsively text far more than boys. The study wanted to compare texting among users whose texting would be considered “compulsive” as opposed to those who only reported texting frequently.
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A new study shows that teenagers who lie about the amount of time they spend texting, check their phones constantly, and become irritable if interrupted could be compulsive texters, and in girls, that could be linked to a lower academic performance.
So basically compulsive texting, like compulsive gambling, and likely compulsive behavior in general, turns you into a twitchy, lying dirtbag. “Compulsive texting is more complex than frequency of texting”.
The study had over 400 participants, all of them students in the eighth grade and eleventh grade at the same school district. The researchers designed a scale measuring compulsive texting by asking students questions like: “How often do you find that you text longer than you intended?” Boys aren’t as likely to engage in compulsive texting, perhaps due to the fact that they are less inclined to take part in all the conversations and topics circulating in their group of friends or in the school.
The authors note that the study was limited to a relatively small sample and more research is needed to see if the results apply to other student populations.
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Frequent texting is the trademark of teenagers nowadays. Do they feel anxious when it’s not around them? “For instance, it may be helpful for parents to establish “screen free” time periods or zones in the home, such as at the dinner table or during homework”, Lister-Landman said. A 2012 Pew study found that 75% of teens have a mobile phone, and 63% say they text every day.
