“One new message. Inbox Full.”

It’s safe to say that most students have sent and received one too many text messages to put themselves over the allotted amount, until their parents finally give in to unlimited texting. Though unlimited texting is much needed seeing as most teenagers send uncountable numbers of texts in just one month, the freedom has created several damaging effects.

First and foremost, texting causes some people to become completely oblivious to their surroundings. This was clearly proven in a recent incident at Berkshire shopping mall in Pennsylvania, when shopper Cathy Cruz Marrero was too focused on her “urgent” text to pay attention to her steps. Let’s just say she had a nice bath in the mall’s fountain.

“Texting draws people’s attention away from the real world,” said junior Hanbin Cho.

After the incident, security leaked the video and it ended up on YouTube, where it received over two million views. Claiming that the video was a violation of privacy and had put her through unwanted humiliation, Marrero made the questionable decision of suing.

Not only does texting affect your awareness of the things around you, but also the people around you.

“It’s rude at social occasions,” said Cho, “when people are texting someone else or another person across the room.”

Sending constant texts every two seconds while you’re spending time with another friend doesn’t make the time any more fun for the friend you’re with. Many times, we miss part of the conversation or almost completely ignore the person talking to us because we’re too engulfed in the cyber-conversation taking place in our hands.

“It definitely injures social skills,” said senior Emily Gorham. “We probably should call anyway.”

Unfortunately, texting causes many deaths, such as when people text while driving. The National Safety Council estimates that about 1.6 million crashes are cell phone related.

While the overuse of texting proves to be a distraction when driving, it can also be distracting to students in other ways including instruction during school and completing school work.

“It can take longer to do homework if you’re trying to text people at the same time,” said senior Paul Belisle.

Obsessive texting can also be distracting to other people in public places. Not everyone wants to see a repetitive shining light in front of them in the movie theatre.

“It can distract you from an important event,” said Belisle, “and it is making communication less personal.”