A Penn State study shows that college students find texting irresistible even at the most inappropriate situation.
IN PHOTO: A student from the General Yermolov Cadet School plays with her mobile phone during a two-day field exercise near the village of Sengileyevskoye, just outside the south Russian city of Stavropol April 13, 2014. The General Yermolov Cadet School in the southern Russian city of Stavropol is a state-run institution that teaches military and patriotic classes in addition to a normal syllabus. The school allows its pupils to take part in field-training trips, during which they spend time at a base and undergo physical drills and weapons training. The outings are seen as a treat for students, and those with bad grades are not allowed to go. The school is named after the Russian imperial general Alexei Yermolov and many of its students are from military backgrounds. Picture taken April 13, 2014. Reuters/Eduard Korniyenko

A recent survey conducted by researchers at the Pennsylvania State University revealed that college students text too much – during showers, funerals, class, or even sex. While most of the students admit that it is inappropriate to do so, they still do it anyway.

The research was headed by Marissa Harrison, an associate professor of psychology at Penn State. The recent findings were published in the Social Science Journal. In the survey, 152 college students were asked to accomplish a survey containing 70 questions focusing on their different texting behaviours and general texting habits.

The report stated that 89 percent of the students admit to texting while having their meals, and 83 percent said that they have texted while in the bathroom. In addition, students considered these texting behaviours to be more acceptable.

Most of the students also agreed that it is inappropriate to text while attending a religious service, but more than 22 percent of them still text during that time. Around 7.4 percent said that they also text while having sex.

Harrison suggests that the current texting behaviours of college students may be influenced by natural selection. Being an evolutionary psychologist, Harrison believes that it could be the buzzing and flashing that tempts students to immediately check on their phones.

She said, "we are all programmed to notice movement and change, so maybe those buzzes and bells of texting, just like certain sounds that used to indicate the charging of a predator, for example, reinforce the need to find out what is going on.”

According to Harrison, the team will also conduct a future study to take a look at the texting behaviours from different age groups and how these age groups react to the temptations of incoming text messages.

To contact the writer, email: wendylemeric@gmail.com

RELATED STORIES