SMS Texting Addiction - When Texting Never Stops

Texting addicts abound and the number is increasing by the day. Since 1998, a Scandinavian therapy center has treated 60 addicts and to this day, this number may have doubled.

Asia has not been spared either. According to Telecoms Korea, 3 out of 10 Korean secondary students who own mobile phones are reported to be addicted to mobile phones. The report also indicated, a big 21% of 270 high school students carrying mobile phones replied that they feel anxious when their cell phones are not with them and 8% of them said that they feel very annoyed without mobile phones. 10% of the respondents already reported of pain in the wrist or shoulder. This is repetitive strain injury -pressing undersized keyboards of mobile phones causes poor blood circulation and pain in the shoulder.

The immediate effect of sms text addiction, termed by some as compulsive text messaging, is repetitive strain injury. This dries out the lubricating fluid between tendons of your hands, wrists and shoulders. Those demonstrating this type of addiction are also prone to depression, anxiety and sleep disorder, aside from the monetary impacts to the person and his/her family.

Many people affected by this technology addiction are still on their denial stage claiming there is no such thing as sms text addiction. In the early days of marijuana and cocaine, addiction also wasn't recognized until people came to the realization they were addicted into it and it was already too late for them to respond rationally.

Why are people quick to look down on alcoholics or drug addicts, but then go out and spend 12 hours in Internet chatrooms? Compulsive text messaging are sending people to clinics for treating their technology addictions. And this number is rising.

The World Health Organization has described addiction as a pathological relationship with a mood-altering substance or experience that has life damaging consequences. So this only means an addiction does not need to be with a mood-altering substance like marijuana or alcohol but it could also be an activity like Internet chatting or SMS text messaging. People should begin to take a serious look about this malady. Somebody close to you may be into it but you refuse to recognize its existence. Learn to be aware of the general signs like denial, tolerance, withdrawal, obsession, compulsion, and isolation. These signs are common in almost all addictions.

Daily, we've seen new SMS applications introduced into the market. The market for SMS texting is getting more profitable intended to make us grasp as much of this technology in our daily lives. The more SMS texting becomes a part of us, the more addicting it will become, the more problems we will have to deal with in the future. Simply, treat technology as a tool and never an extension of our lives. As long as we keep on that perspective, chances of being manipulated by these latest gadgets, gizmos and applications will be slim.

Teodolfo is an Information Technology Consultant for Amyntor Limited. Amyntor Limited builds high technology software that uses the latest communications and Internet standards. Its major product is ClearSMS, http://www.clearsms.com, a web-based application that lets you send bulk SMS messages to your customers, contacts or just about anyone.