With each new leap in technology there is usually some new problem that comes with it. This time it’s something called “sleep texting” which is where people are reporting that they are apparently sending texts on their cell phones to other people while still asleep. Fox News is reporting that sleep specialists have been flooded with patients wondering how they could be texting while asleep, and if it’s something they should be worried about. And it’s not just here, the British newspaper the Telegraph is also writing about the new phenomenon and how specialists over there attribute the whole thing to overuse of texting.
Both papers also report that medical researchers are dubious, claiming that it would be impossible to compose and send text messages while asleep. They suspect that people sometimes find themselves wakened during the night by their phone, and wind up typing something in reply before falling back to sleep on their pillows. It’s entirely possible they say, that because the people doing the texting are so groggy, they don’t ever wake up quite enough to remember what they’ve done, and thus believe it occurred while they were asleep.
It’s also possible some say to wake up from a dream and reach for the phone for some texting as a natural extension of both a dream and real life daily experiences. This they say might explain some of the gibberish some people claim to have written while asleep. People only half awake may think they are composing what’s in their head, but in fact are tapping nonsensically on their keypad.
In the Time article, one psychologist says that sleep texting may be an indication that a person has too much on their plate and their texting is merely an extension of work or other busy type activities that people have always had. Others suggest that because texting is such a natural extension for human communication it seems only natural that it would spill out when asleep or nearly so.
Many such specialists suggest people turn off their phone and put it in another room before going to bed, because judgment can be impaired when half asleep and are much more prone to write down things and send them in text message that they never would were they fully awake and aware of what they are doing. Such messages could obviously lead to problems when sending half-witted messages to people where they work or to friends or family regarding personal information that wasn’t meant to be shared.