'Teen Texting Tendonitis' the Latest Health Epidemic
Teens text way too much. We've gotten so used to outrageous stories here at Switched HQ that we were dismissive when we heard about 13-year-old Bailey Baker from Dallas, TX and her 8,000 monthly text messages -- after all, we've seen a different young girl send 41,000 messages in a month, and even one who claimed to send 300,000. So, 8,000? That's nothing.
That is until we learned that Bailey is suffering from what some have dubbed Teen Texting Tendonitis (or TTT), a fancy, unnecessary name for sore thumbs. As we've previously reported, your thumbs are not designed for tapping out messages on tiny keyboards. So it should come as no surprise that Bailey found herself suffering from back, neck, elbow, and thumb pain, as well as occasional numbness in her opposable fifth digit.
So now parents have one more reason to freak out about their child's texting habit: the medical bills. [From: CNN, via Examiner.com]
Teen Texting Craziness
Syracuse University professor Laurence Thomas made news last year for walking out of the classroom whenever his students disobeyed his "no texting in class" rule. Wouldn't the kind of student who would text in class be happy to have class canceled?
In January, 13-year-old Californian Reina Hardesty sent 14,528 text messages from her cell phone. Fortunately for her daddy, he had her on an unlimited text plan.
Two high school cheerleaders in Seattle were suspended from school in December when school officials found out that they had taken nude pictures of themselves on their cell phones and, mistakenly or not, wound up with them circulating through the football locker room. The girls' parents have filed suit against the school. You'd think they would just let the embarassment die quietly.
In December, while on a class trip (according to an Internet rumor anyway), the above message appeared on 18-year-old Elizabeth Frisinger's phone after mistakenly texting her dad, back home in Cleveland, that she'd just lost her virginity. Whoops!
Outdoing Reina Hardesty, 15-year-old Ohioan Paige Hornev averages 15,000 text messages a month. That comes out to the impressive, or pitiful, average of 500 text messages a day.
Thinking about Emily Jenning's texting abilities just makes our thumbs hurt. The Vancouver, British Columbia teen pumped out an absurd 41,600 text messages in the course of a single month -- we did some quick calculations and that works out to about one text every minute.
_thumbnail.jpg "Vintage Keyboards")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
noonus44 said 7:18AM on 7-22-2009
did you mean to type surpriSe with a z? or is it complete irony that you did that while trying to call someone else stupid?
Reply
geniebeme said 8:10AM on 7-22-2009
Just wait until the osteoarthitis sets in.
Reply
Vinnie said 8:46AM on 7-22-2009
First off, I would like to know is how stuff like this gets on the news!? During the Dr's appointment does the Dr call the news media and they come rushing down to catch the office visit!? And how special is Bailey. She's in the Dr's office for a problem that she knows very well what causes it yet does she stop!? No, and she continues while in the Dr's office. Why doesn't the Mother take away her texting device!? I mean, she is the PARENT after all and I'm sure pays the bills not Bailey. Parents today are way too easy on their kids. Are they afraid of hurting their child's feelings or that the kid will hate them!? Well, Boo-hoo! Parents need to be an authority figure to their kids not best friends! Texting 8000 messages in a month. Both of them are dummies.
Reply
Roger said 9:55AM on 7-22-2009
Why text at all? You both have cell phones - CALL THE PERSON, YOU MORONS! Texting is akin to calling someone on a landline phone, and when they answer, you tap out the message with a spoon on the mouthpiece. Get a life, people - just MAKE THE CALL.
Reply
Dlcra said 10:50AM on 7-22-2009
Texting does seem like a step backwards. Why is it so popular???
soccergoalie43 said 1:39PM on 7-22-2009
being a teen girl, i can answer tht. texting offers a way to communicate easily with friends without bothering anyone around u. also u can text someone even if they dont have their cellphone at tht time they will eventually answer you. not so if u try to call. also u can have multiple conversations at a time. also talking on the phone can have a grainy quality. also, this generation is fond of multi-tasking, which is very possible if u text. people over the age of 25 have trouble understanding. though tht many texts is a bit excessive. :)
lolakennedy93 said 1:48PM on 7-22-2009
I am a teen, and teens now don't like talking on the phone too much it's simple and a lot of texts people send are probably (lol's/hehe's/haha's/bye) one word texts. I hate talking on the phone, I text anytime I get a chance which is usually a lot... I mean I'm not going to say how much I have done the most but I text a lot I am actually texting right now,, and asking "why text?" thats KINDA like asking why did people make e-mail you can call the person or saying AIM/Skype/any type of IM was made; people like to text, adults like to text, my grandmother texts!
Bev said 2:21PM on 7-22-2009
LOL,i so agree with you....but,....believe it or not,i have friends that will ONLY text.....i think it is so silly that they refuse to talk on the phone!
Brandon said 10:17AM on 7-22-2009
Can someone tell me why this was in AOL's featured Food section?
Reply
waddelln said 10:18AM on 7-22-2009
From the great state of Texas......s-u-r-p-r-i-s-e.
Hook-em!
Reply
David L Schwegmann said 10:43AM on 7-22-2009
What happened to evolution? Doesn't evolution say our bodies will change will time to our new life style movements, desires? If evolution is so true, then why haven't we devloped wings by now? Man should be able to fly without airplanes, given his desire to do so, is as ancient as time..
Reply
Angel Notaro said 11:49AM on 7-22-2009
evolution does not occur because of human DESIRES, but by changes in the environment around us. yes humans have always wanted to fly but we never had a NEED to.
Ash said 11:52AM on 7-22-2009
Wow... maybe you should get out a dictionary and look up evolution. It has ZERO to do with desire and everything to do with survival. If the texter with stronger thumbs survived to have more offspring, then more people would have stronger thumbs. If we lived out in the wild, and texting-able thumbs got you more food or let you escape predators better, then we would have evolved texting-able thumbs. As it stands, many parts of our body are not made for the strange repetative motions caused by modern life (such as texing and typing). In modern society with no predators, medicine and calorie-rich cheap food, less 'successful' people actually seem to have more children. I don't think you can apply evolution to humans anymore because you've taken the natural out of natural selection. Still, your idea of what evolution even is is way off base. Before you bash something you should at least understand it.
David L Schwegmann said 12:08PM on 7-22-2009
Got you thinking, huh? Maybe you should learn todifferentiate between adaptation, and evolution. Then think about who you direct toward the dictionary.
Andrew said 5:16PM on 7-22-2009
Dave S, that made no sense...
I'm fairly certain evolution doesn't have much to do with what we want to happen..
Isn't it a natural selection process? Correct me if I'm wrong, I know very little of the subject.
Reply
Keith said 11:00AM on 7-22-2009
She's a texting Texan.
Reply
Lori said 11:14AM on 7-22-2009
yep its repetitive stress injuries .. can damage the nerves ..cause numbness / tingling and loss of strength. also wear out cmc joint at thumbs. Im an x-ray tech and worked for a hand surgeon .we saw many adults with theses injuries from years of doingcertain movments over time but theses kids are starting young so it will ctahc up sooner. Ive seen surgeons, hairdressers ,postal workers , bakers etc lose there jobs because of repetitive postions . can lead to carpal tunnel and more . need to really be educated and think about this.
Reply
ttoshascott08 said 11:24AM on 7-22-2009
I am from Texas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Learn how to spell idiot!!!!!!!!
Reply
sweetandsour2624 said 11:24AM on 7-22-2009
My sister is out of control with her texting and its ruining the family. We went on vacation a couple weeks ago to Ohio, and she texted constantly. At meals, walkinf around etc. Even waiting in lines for roller coaster at an amusement park. Its stupid. She told me last month her texts came to 24,000. Now thats insane. I think i use 200 a month.
Reply
John said 1:19PM on 7-22-2009
This waste of time was going on while on vacation? Did the girl see any sights. I would bet money that nothing of dire importance was sent. I blame the parents. They probably paid a high price for admission to the theme park and this girl concentrates on her text. This is wrong. I would have put that thing in the hotel safe and force her to be without it. And I would also bet when she got it back and asked "what did I miss?", there wouldn't be any bulletins.