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Texting Addiction An Actual Sickness

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by Kevin Maney
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Apr 01 2008 12:00am EDT

Texting Addiction: An Actual Sickness?

Perhaps you remember my son from a previous post -- the 14-year-old who ran up a $657 texting bill. That would be 12,000 texts in a month. Well, perhaps he's one of millions of people with Excessive Texting Disorder, or whatever it might be called.

An editorial in the March American Journal of Psychiatry puts texting in the category of "compulsive-impulsive spectrum disorder." Think you might have it? The journal says these are the symptoms:

1) excessive use, often associated with a loss of sense of time or a neglect of basic drives.

2) withdrawal, including feelings of anger, tension, and/or depression when the computer (or cell phone) is inaccessible.

3) tolerance, including the need for better equipment, more software, or more hours of use.

4) negative repercussions, including arguments, lying, poor achievement, social isolation, and fatigue.

You just know this will soon be followed by the establishment of a Texting Crisis Center.

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