Young 'inseparable' from cellphones

Teenagers have become almost inseparable from their cellphones, a university study has found.

The study interviewed focus groups comprising high school and university students, as well as younger children, about their cellphone use.

Dr Lee Thompson and Dr Julie Cupples, cultural geography lecturers at Christchurch University, described many of the texting generation as becoming cyborgs, or part human, part machine, The Press newspaper said today.

Dr Thompson said teens saw their cellphones -- used almost exclusively for texting -- as an extension of themselves, ceasing to be separate from its user.

They were "remarkably unwilling" to ever turn their phones off, she said.

Most teens in the focus group had their phones on all night.

"There was a sense of being in perpetual contact. The social world is always available to a greater or lesser extent."

Every child or teen in the focus group set their phone to silent alert, so they could keep in touch without parents or teachers knowing.

The study found teens used texting to "lubricate and engineer" face-to-face meetings. One of its biggest advantages was it avoided "awkward silences", particularly in setting up romantic encounters.

- NZPA