First, a study just published in the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics concludes that “nearly half of US high school students aged ≥16 years report TWD during the past 30 days, and these students are more likely to engage in additional risky MV behaviors.”

What risky behaviors, you ask? Well, the study, based on data from the CDC, found that these teens who texted while driving were more likely to not wear their seatbelts and were also more likely to drink and drive (or at least ride in the car with someone who has been drinking).

The CDC study asked a sample of around 8.500 high school students whether they had texted while driving in the past month. Just shy of 45% copped to it. Those teens were then found to participate in other high-risk driving activities at a higher rate.

“Multitasking is fine if you’re sitting in your dorm room or at home in your bedroom, but multitasking in the car is a terrible idea,” said CDC director Tom Frieden. “It’s amazing how quickly things can go wrong in the car.”

Here’s another alarming find for you parents out there: according to another study, texting while driving is now killing more teens that drunk driving.

The study comes from the Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New York. They say that over 3,000 teens now die every year as the result of texting while driving. That number just beats the number killed in drunk driving accidents – 2,700.

Of course, texting is a more common practice than drinking while driving. But still, it’s a shocking figure.

“The reality is kids aren’t drinking seven days per week – they are carrying their phones and texting seven days per week, so you intuitively know this a more common occurrence,” said Dr. Andrew Adesman, Chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Cohen Children’s Medical Center.

Although these studies focused on teens, it’s not just the younger crowd who is guilty of texting while driving. A recent AT&T study found that 49% of adults admitted to the practice, compared to just 43% of teens. And it’s not for lack of knowledge. 98% admitted that they knew it was wrong, but did it anyway. 39 states currently ban texting while driving and another 6 ban it for novice drivers.

Benjamin Kohler was charged with contempt after authorities say he was using his mobile device to text after being given explicit instructions to stay off it.

The judge in the trial, Dennis Graves, instructed the entire jury that cell phone use during court was prohibited. He apparently issued the instructions multiple times.

But Kohler either didn’t hear or didn’t care. During the testimony of a Salem police officer, a video recording was played in the courtroom. That’s when the district attorney noticed a dim light emanating from Kohler’s area.

The proceeding were stopped and the courtroom was emptied. Apparently, Kohler had no explanation for his texting.

“The duty to serve as a juror must be taken very seriously. Every juror has the responsibility to devote his entire attention to the witnesses and evidence being presented. In this case, Mr. Kohler failed to meet his obligations and failed to honor the direction of this court. My hope is that he will use his time in jail to reflect upon his behavior,” said the judge.

Hopefully. If you can’t put your phone down for a few minutes, let’s say, while you’re eating – you may get soup on your device. But if you can’t put your phone down for a few minutes during a trial – you may miss something that could be the difference between someone’s freedom and incarceration. Put the phone down, dude. Nothing you’re texting about is that important, I assure you.

The too-technologically-connected juror has been an ever-increasing problem over the past few years. Just this week, we told you that a juror in the U.K. faces contempt charges after he made Facebook postings about wanting to “fuck up a pedophile.” In the past, we’ve even seen death row convictions overturned due to social media-using jurors.

[Madison County Sheriff's Office via Wired]

This week, a grieving family, who claim their son’s death was due to text messaging while driving, is issuing a warning to other drivers. Greenly, Colorado police and the family of Alexander Heit, who died last week after becoming distracted by texting, are pleading with the public to avoid Alexander’s fate. To hammer this message home, an image of the text that Alexander was crafting at the time of the accident has been released. It reads: “Sounds good my man, seeya soon, ill tw.”

“I can’t bear the thought of anyone else having to go through something like this,” said Sharon Heit, Alexander’s mother. “Please, vow to never, NEVER text and drive. In a split second you could ruin your future, injure or kill others, and tear a hole in the heart of everyone who loves you. And in honor of Alex’s memory, please do something kind for a stranger who needs help, as Alex always wished for a world were people were kinder to each other.”

According to police, 22-year-old Alexander had become distracted by his texting while traveling on a road with a narrow dirt shoulder. He began drifting into oncoming traffic in the opposite lane and then over-corrected, flipping his car over the side of the road. He died at the North Colorado Medical Center some time later.

Really, this includes any sort of social networking while driving like tweeting or posting photos to Instagram.

The bill, Senate bill 147, has passed committee without objection.

Louisiana already bans texting while driving, but this bill would extend the banned activities list to posting to or even viewing content on any social network.

No person shall operate any motor vehicle upon any public road or highway of this state while using a wireless telecommunications device to access, read, or post to a social networking site.

The bill goes on to define “social network” as “any web-based service that allows individuals to construct a profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and communicate with other members of the site.”

You would think that this is a unnecessary addition to current anti-texting while driving laws, which already exist in the state. But the bill’s sponsor, Senator Dale Erdey, says that police have actually cited cases where they’ve pulled someone over for texting while driver only to be told “Hey, I’m not texting…I’m Instagramming!” Or Facebooking, or tweeting, or any other social network activity.

He says the current law isn’t comprehensive enough to cover these loopholes.

Sorry, drivers. We know that bumper sticker on the truck in front of you is absolutely outrageous. But your Twitter followers can wait to see it.

This isn’t the only smartphone activity outside of texting that’s getting challenged around the country. Earlier this week, a California judge upheld the illegality of using a mapping product while driving.

[Louisiana Senate bill 147 via The Daily Dot]

AT&T has a new survey out as part of its “It Can Wait” anti-texting while driving campaign. This one looked at the text while driving problem with commuters – adults going to and from work.

And the results may surprise you. The survey, which looked at over 1,000 commuters, showed that 49% admit to texting while driving. That’s more than teens, who are texting and driving at a rate of 43%, according to a previous AT&T study.

In that study, 77% of teens said that although adults warn them of the dangers, most of them “do it themselves all the time,” so we probably should’ve seen these results coming.

According to the survey, the texting and driving problem is actually getting worse in adult commuters. 60% said that they never texted while driving three years ago. And a whopping 98% said that they knew it was dangerous to text while driving, but do it anyway. 95% acknowledged that just reading an incoming text while driving was also wrong.

“Businesses can help keep their employees and others on the road safe by encouraging responsible behavior behind the wheel, including obeying all laws related to the use of electronic devices,” said U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue. “We also encourage all businesses to consider joining the ‘It Can Wait’ movement to end texting while driving. Together we can help turn the tide on this serious issue.”

As of today, 39 states ban texting while driving for all drivers, and another 6 ban the practice for novice drivers. Still, these surveys make one thing clear – awareness campaigns are fighting an uphill battle. Nearly everyone (98%!) knows that it’s dangerous to text and drive, but nearly 50% do it anyway. Sure, knowing is half the battle. But people know – and it seems, at least for now, that they don’t care.

“I was just amazed by what I saw,” he said. “So many people are almost oblivious. They are texting and texting, totally unaware as they cross even six-lane highways.”

Not wanting to leave it to natural selection to sort everything out, Munford has proposed Assembly Bill 123, which will outlaw texting and walking pretty much everywhere in the state. That means texting while walking on urban streets, state roads, and even out in the suburbs would be met with a penalty.

That penalty would start with a warning and increase to a $250 fine by the time the violator receives their third citation.

The only exceptions to the statute would allow for people to text while walking across the road in two specific situations – either a medical emergency or the reporting of a crime.

Reporting to your friend Ashley that whatever Taylor was wearing at the club last night was a “fashion crime” will not be exempted.

Munford is following in the trailblazing footsteps of officials in Fort Lee, New Jersey. In May of 2012, that town of just over 35,000 began to ticket “distracted walkers.” Before resorting to fines, Fort Lee tried reasoning with the population by issuing pedestrian safety messages. That didn’t work, so they started giving summons to those caught texting while crossing the street.

Fines for texting while walking may seem a bit dramatic to some. Maybe we should try texting “e-lanes,” jokingly proposed by Philadelphia last year?

Or, as previously suggested, maybe just let it work itself out.

[LA Times]

May I present to you, “sleep-texting.”

“It’s just what you’d think it is, it’s texting while asleep,” says Elizabeth Dowdell, nursing professor at Villanova University. “It’s exactly what is sounds like, or really more between that, you know, that area between being asleep and being awake.”

“The phone will beep, they’ll answer the text. They’ll either respond in words or gibberish. (It) can even be inappropriate. Ex-girlfriends contacting ex-boyfriends, saying ‘I miss you. I want to see you.’ The thing that happens, though, is that when they wake up, there’s no memory.”

People have been known to do any number of strange things whilst technically “asleep” or in some sort of strange limbo between asleep and awake. You know, like make a sandwich or murder someone. But sleep-texting?

“Oh, sorry Jesse. I’m sorry I texted you that your new girlfriend looks like Sloth and she gives off a perpetual stink-eye. I don’t even remember it, I was actually sleep-texting.”

Apparently the sleep-texting crisis is being brought on by stress and lack of sleep. So pretty much like every other problem. If you have a sleep-texting problem and want to do something about it, it helps to make your bedroom “technology-free” or at least put your iPhone on the other side of the damn room.

[CBS Philly via UPROXX]

[Photo via]

How often do you find yourself unable to properly text, Facebook, or play Temple Run because you’re forced to use one of your free hands holding a cup of coffee. If this scenario hits home, help may be on the way.

It’s called the UpperCup, and it’s the iPhone/cup holder that you never knew you wanted.

“No more one handed typing. No more spilling coffee. Have your hands free for your optimal texting, gaming and social networking pleasure,” says Dutch marketing agency Natwerk.

Awesome! You want one, right?

Well, you can’t have one – yet. Natwerk is currently crowdfunding the project on indiegogo. They’ve set a goal of $25,000 to get the UpperCup into production and say that if/when it hits the shelves, it will do so with a $35 price tag. As of now, the’ve only managed to collect a little under $800 with 36 days left in the campaign.

This is admittedly a little ridiculous. But I can totally see it selling.

UPDATE: It looks like I, like many others, have written up a publicity stunt.

[via BuzzFeed]

Facebook is making another move to assert itself into the private messaging space, as the company is reportedly working on a standalone app that takes its cues from another popular messaging app called Snapchat.

Snapchat allows users to send and receive covert messages that have a pre-determined shelf life. When a user chooses to send a photo, text, or video message, they also choose how long they want the message to exist. When that amount of time passes (could be seconds, could be hours), the message is wiped from the recipient’s phone and from the Snapchat servers. If the recipient happens to screencap the message, the Snapchat app will let the sender know.

Snapchat says their app is “instantly fun and insanely playful,” and apparently Facebook wants to capitalize on the concept with their one billion+ MAUs. All Things D quotes sources familiar with the matter who say that the company is currently testing their own version of the Snapchat app that would exist separately from the Facebook app – similar to how their standalone Messenger and Camera apps work.

The sources claim that Facebook is so close to launching the app that it will be here before the end of the year.

“Fun and playful,” yes – but Snapchat has also been dubbed the “sexting” app by some. That’s made it controversial with some parents, who are worried that the self-destructing nature of the messages leads them to be used for “inappropriate” communications. Facebook could have a big hit on its hands if they can create a good app, considering they have something Snapchat doesn’t have – an already in-place network of a billion users. If the app is good enough, Facebook could very well steal this concept from the popular-in-its-own-right Snapchat.

[Lead Image is Snapchat, not the rumored Facebook app]

Anyway, motivations aside, Pew found that on average, Americans over the age of 18 send and receive 41.5 texts per day. Women are a bit more text-happy than men, but not by much (42 to 40.9). As you may expect, those aged 18-29 tip the scale with an average of 87.7 texts per day. On the flip side, text messaging seniors (65 and older) only send and receive 4.7 texts on average.

And there’s not just an age discrepancy – there’s an ethnic one as well. Black texters are much more text-happy than White and Hispanic users, seeing 70.1 texts every day compared to 31.2 and 48.9, respectively.

It also turns out that poorer, less-educated users send out more texts per day on average.

Pew also found that a large majority of cell phone users use text messaging. In all, 80% of all phone owners send or receive texts. When you look demographically, you find that young people are the most prolific texters again. 97% of those surveyed between the ages of 18 and 29 are texters.