Nikki Brown has a problem -- she cannot keep her hands off her phone.
"I text morning, noon and night, and it adds up to about 3,000-to-5,000 a month," said Brown.
Her habit is so bad that some psychiatrists are diagnosing obsessive texting as a mental illness. According to an article in the American Journal of Psychiatry, if you text too much during the day you probably have a problem.
"People can get really addicted to it because you can get away with it when you are not supposed to be. It is a lot more incognito than talking on the phone, and you can be in a meeting or in school," said texter Brooke Smith.
Experts say that there are four distinct symptoms to diagnosing texting as a mental illness:
- Excessive use. That means neglecting your day to day activities.
- Withdrawal and feeling depressed when your cell phone is not accessible.
- Tolerance or overtexting.
- Negative repercussions including social isolation.
Still, with texting now becoming a popular way to communicate, some say, whether it is a mental illness or not, it will take a lot more than a study to get people to put down their phones.
