The Dangers of Teen Texting

The Dangers of Teen Texting

Teen texting is a problem that most parents never experienced before when they were teenagers. As technology improves, texting has become more sophisticated and today’s teenagers feel inadequate without their phones in their hands and texting to their heart’s content. Almost every teen in America has a cell phone and their friends are but a text away. While it may appear unassuming and not harmful, there are inherent dangers of  keeping your teenager on text. Let us take a look at the potential harm that texting can do to your child and learn how to curb the danger before it is too late.

Texting while driving

If your teenager is old enough to drive, the danger of getting into a serious accident is magnified a hundred fold if they often do text while they drive. The writing is all over the wall. A lot of people have lost their lives all because they have been out of focus when they are driving as they pay attention on their texting instead of the road. Research shows that when teens are texting while driving, they drive the length of a football field at 55 miles per hour. This is awfully long window for a disaster to strike and potentially kill the teen in an accident if not cause death.

Texting causes lack of sleep

Does your teenager tend to be tired even after sleeping for eight hours? It is most probably that your teenager never had a good sleep at all, which explains the lethargy and sluggishness. Teens need to have a great sleep in order to focus well on their tasks at school. If they are tired they often suffer from poor performance which is translated to lower grades. Teens tend to text more than get some shut eye thus contributing to poor quality sleep. Worse, sleepy teenagers are less alert which could lead to accidents on the road.  About 1,500 deaths are recorded each year due accidents involving teens that are not sleeping well.

Texting attracts sexual friends

Sexting is a very recent development where teenagers are getting raped and worse murdered due to texting. Teens that are too naïve would usually provide their text mates sexually-explicit pictures that are often used for blackmail. This could lead to soliciting sexual favor that could cause a lot of harm. Indecent photographs of minors could also qualify as child pornography which can lead to trauma in the young minds of the victims.

Texting can cause cyber bullying

Cyber bullies can use texts to make the lives of their targets a living hell. As instant messaging and other chat clients becoming more mobile, it is easier for cyber bullies to spread their nefarious attacks even outside the texting system. Cyber bullying can drive teenagers to depression and even get anxiety symptoms. Cyber bullying is known to push people to the brink and targets are left with no other option but to commit suicide.
It is best to be responsible in texting and never text anything that can be used by as a leverage to advance the goals of the cyber bully.

Texting can be counter productive

Teenagers that are texting too much tend to spend more time on their phones which can impact their productivity. Teenagers that put premium on the people that they text tend to overlook their chores and even their assignments. This could eventually lead to lower grades at school or even the inability to become productive inside the house.

Texting can be anti-social

Teens that are too preoccupied with texting would overlook that value of face-to-face relations. They feel comfortable getting social with people though their phones. Texting remains very non personal which robs people of the emotions and the warm feel of a real friend talking to you in person. Texting will prevent the child from socializing personally and would rather be room-bound.
As a parent it is your duty to monitor the texting usage of your child. Texting dangers among teens can come as discreet and before you know it a big problem has exploded right in front of your face. Texting is a privilege and not a right and if needed parents should take away or find ways to regulate their teen’s texting habits if it can cause more harm than good to the child.

Ryan Rivera

About the Guest Author:
 Ryan Rivera has written a lot of tips and tricks that help people lessen the possibility of suffering from too much stress and  anxiety. You can check out  calmclinic for more helpful tips on mental health.