Twittering or Texting Too Much Leads To New Psychiatric Disease

An article in the American Journal of Psychiatry claims that sending too many text messages has serious implications for your health, possibly leading to an addiction. The extent of this malady is still unknown because of the denial surrounding it.

Jerald Block, the psychiatrist who wrote the article, is bafflingly blunt -- people who send large numbers of text messages and emails may have a mental disorder. Apparently ‘internet addiction’ is already a ‘common disorder’ which needs to be included in the professional literature describing disorders. If you suffer from it, you lose track of time sitting behind a computer, you get excessively angry when you can’t access certain programs and you’re almost certainly bound to suffer withdrawal symptoms from excessively using technology to message other members. Serious sufferers have arguments, lie a lot, experience social isolation and fatigue. Sound familiar? The excessive text messages and emails many of us send and receive are only the symptoms, says Block. But he has no idea how widespread his newly founded illness is, because there’s a lot of shame and denial surrounding it. I wonder what the new disease will be called. Internet Repetitive Attention Efficiency Syndrome might cover it. Disclosure: Angelique van Engelen writes reporTwitters.com, a blog about Twitter and journalism.