Not your imagination: Compulsive texting hurts teenagers

Boys also dont seem to have compulsive texting affect their school work. The girls who were compulsive texters also performed worse academically.

And, because of it, those girls were more likely to have academic problems, like lower GPAs and increased feelings of incompetence.

So the researchers created a “compulsive texting scale” by asking the students questions like, “Do you find yourself frustrated because you want to text but you have to wait?” and “Do you fear that life without texting would be boring and unhappy?” Out of total girls found engaged in compulsive texting, about 14% of them reported that they were C students.

Lister-Landman and her colleagues surveyed 403 students in grades eight and 11 in a semirural town in the Midwest. A new study confirms those suspicions. Boys send texts to their peers as a way to provide information, while girls rely on their texts to develop a relationship, whether with the family or in a romantic setting, or interact socially with their friends and classmates.

The study is not completely clear as to why only girls are affected negatively.

Frequent texting is the trademark of teenagers nowadays. All participants were asked to complete a specific questionnaire regarding texting and related questions, as well as their academic performance. “It would be helpful for parents to look for signs of whether texting seems stressful for their teens, particularly if they have difficulty cutting back their texting or seem anxious when they are unable to text”. “Teens regularly multi-task, and establishing boundaries to cut down on the teens’ divided attention could prove beneficial”.

The research found a few teens were losing sleep because they were staying up late to text.