How many text messages do you send in a day? How about in a month? Are you one of those people who is always seen with a mobile phone in hand, hunched over it like there was no tomorrow? Dr. Bryan Vartabedian poses a question in his blog: How much texting is too much?

Several years ago, this question might not even come up too often. Today, however, the question arises once too often and applies not only to teenagers but to us parents as well! With the advent of affordable mobile phones and telecomm plans to go with them, it is but inevitable that many of us tend to get too caught up in text messaging. But is this really a concern? Are we texting too much?

I think that the more pressing matter, though, is what we teach to our kids by example. If they see us texting at the breakfast table, while watching TV, during dinner, and while driving, then we should re-think our habits. If we tell our kids to control their texting and not to text in class or to go to bed and stop texting and yet we do not do the same ourselves, then do you think they will obey?

This issue spans more than the actual activity of texting. It encompasses more than technology and its effects. I believe that the root is how parents teach children through how they behave and act. The principle can very well extend to other matters such as smoking and other lifestyle matters. Wouldn’t you agree?