To text or not to text

While enjoying Lawnparties tomorrow you might text a friend at another school about the good time you're having. Chances are you'll also be texting Princeton friends listening to other bands. You'll pull out your phone without a second thought.We all know we text but have you ever thought about the numbers?A recent Pew poll found:

• 1/2 of American teenagers send 50+ text messages a day
• 1/3 send over 100 texts per day
• 2/3 are more likely to text a friend than to call one
• 54% text their friends daily, compared to the 33% who see their friends daily

Of course, this poll was conducted on Americans aged 12-17, not college-age Americans, but the data is interesting nonetheless.As texting and internet use has gone up, psychologists and parents alike have begun to worry about possible consequences. Apparently excessive texting can lead to to "anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation," according to the New York Times. And we've all heard about adolescents labeled sex offenders because they sexted. But a new concern is that both texting and the use of social network sites like Facebook could actually be making kids less social.In an article in Woody Woo's journal The Future of Children, psychologists Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia M. Greenfield (of California State University, Los Angeles, and U.C.L.A., respectively) wrote:

“Initial qualitative evidence is that the ease of electronic communication may be making teens less interested in face-to-face communication with their friends. More research is needed to see how widespread this phenomenon is and what it does to the emotional quality of a relationship.”

Might texting and Facebook make people antisocial? Princeton is certainly a very social place and we've seen no evidence that Princeton students are hermits -- this weekend is a prime example. But what do you think? Do you hang out with your friends less and text them instead? Or perhaps it is a generational thing -- have you noticed a difference between you and your younger siblings or friends still in middle and high school?