Stories about the dangers of mobile phones are a dime a dozen, but here’s a new one: “excessive texting.”

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NYTimes has a post up, stating that “American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Nielsen Company—almost 80 messages a day, more than double the average of a year earlier.” The NYTimes runs through a list of issues when people text to this degree, including possible damage to the hands and thumbs, lack of sleep due to constant interruption and difficulties doing what one psychologist described as the “jobs of adolescence,” which is separating from parents and finding the peace and quiet to become the person you want to be.

This is likely one of those things adolescents have to learn to deal with. The article suggests that the massive usage of SMS can be narrowed down to a desire to know what’s happening with their peers and anxiety about being left out of the loop, something that has plagued teenagers for quite a while…this is just another manifestation of that.

Photo Credit: Flickr/eron_gpsfs