Texting Alters Teen Brain Chemistry

New data on teen texting is disturbing, to say the least. Over the past three years, teen texting is up 600%, with the average number of texts among teens hitting 3000 texts every month. Increasingly, doctors are treating teens for sleep disorders because one out of five teens wake up at night so they can text.

According to a report aired on ABC, doctors are describing the teen texting phenomenon as a physical addiction that can alter the brain.

Texting is addicting because the instant gratification of getting a text back floods the brain with dopamine, which is linked to pleasure and reward. In fact, the changes in brain chemistry are not unlike the changes that occur in the brain of someone addicted to drugs. Child neurologist Dr. Michael Seyffert explains that “Neuroimaging studies have shown that those kids who are texting have that area of the brain light up the same as an addict using heroin.”

You can watch the ABC report on texting here.