It’s hardly a surprise that college students are addicted to texting. Like all addictions, though, it can have negative consequences.
A recent study by Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va surveyed 83 first-year undergraduate students. The researchers found that the more time spent with texting, the worse sleeping habits tend to be among students.Some of this could be based on the pressure to respond to texts even in the middle of the night or the fact that staring at an LCD screen for long periods of time has proven to have negative effects on sleeping.
What this all means is students should pay attention to how much time they spend texting and try to limit it.
Before anyone accuses me of being a neo-Luddite who wants to stop everyone from texting, I don’t have a problem with it altogether. I think it can be a great tool to send quick messages especially if you know the receiver won’t be available to respond. However, I have never gotten the appeal of “text conversations.” I have personally always found it much easier to have lengthy conversations with people by talking to them on the phones than frantically typing out messages, hoping Autocorrect will fix my typos instead of making them worse. Some people prefer that method, and they are certainly welcome to. However, even if you’re the kind of person who likes texting, try to refrain from doing it too much.
If texting truly leads to issues with sleep, then further issues will arise as a result of it. Some of the negative effects associated with lack of sleep include impaired critical thinking, lowered judgment and even the risk of heart disease, according to WebMD. If that’s not enough, sleep deprivation can also lead to poorer academic performance, according to a 2007 study by St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. I know people love texting a lot, but these are not consequences to be ignored. Students also shouldn’t count out a good night’s sleep which has several benefits. If you’ve been having trouble sleeping lately and happen to text a lot, consider if there’s a correlation. Try to limit the amount of time you text.
If you have an opportunity to call somebody, try doing that. Just a suggestion.
Nick Sestanovich can be reached at [email protected] or @Nsestanovich on Twitter.
