Texting too much?

Ever since mobile phones arised in the late twentieth century people have been taking advantage of the many easily accesable mobile apps. But they have taken over the concept of the phone. I will admit myself that i only use my phone to call people about 5-10% of my over phone use. Most other being texting, camera, or listening to music. I wonder sometimes if these mobile devices will lose the name of phone, or even the capability of calling people, while everyday they convert more and more to the mainstream idea of a pocket sized computer. The invention of blackberrys and smartphones would act as a gateway to the new ideas of technology. Will phones ever again just be a phone?

This brings about a somewhat moral dilema. When looking for a phone shall i be ooed and awed by the features that really just bog my phone down and make it complicated? or shall i focus on what matters: call clarity, signal strength, service availability. Once chosing the right phone is over, even if it wasn't the right phone, the next dilema arises. How do i balance the use of my phone? These days kids (me being one of them) over depend on their phone. Many of the kids at my school will actually cry if their phone is out of their hands, even if still in plain sight. This over dependancy, in my opinion, will lead to a life completely dependant on technology, putting stress on the global market to always come out with a better product. To these people (the ones dependant on techonology) not having the latest (and working) gadgets or phones can mean endless despair.

The idea of texting alone sparks a new debate over what effects will this have later in life. Many will say how can something as harmless as sending a text bring on later life helf affects? But the truth is it can. I've done my research, and studies show that many kids send hundreds of text messages a day, totalling in the tens of thousands per month. Lets say the average kid sends about 250 text messages a day. That amounts to about 7,500 a month. Multiplied by 12 gives us a total of 90,000 a year. Consider that a student will text through most of high school and college, an average 8 years, totalling 720,000 text messages. You may say now this doesnt look bad considering 8 years but when it works out to around 250 a day every day? That is a little much.

With this much stress on your hands and fingers, eyes, and the brain, its easy to see how much this can affect someone. Being overly dependant on receiving the next text can cause anxiety. The lack of receiving text messages has been shown to cause depression. The necessity to be texting can lead to a mental change affecting the users relationships in real life. The physical strain alone is enough to weaken the joints of fingers causing early arthritis, only to be made worse by typing on the computer as well. Lets face it, this new technology is helpful but at what cost? What will people be saying in 50 years when the once young users of this technology are stricken with health problems?

I myself am soon to be 16, text hundreds of messages a day averaging around 20,000 a month, and am scared for what is to come. But what am i to do, stop using technology and fall out of mainstream society?