7 hours and 38 minutes…that’s how much the average young person spends using technology every single day, and I’m not surprised.

Take texting for instance. I am a texting addict, and it’s as essential to my life as eating. Recently I decided to deprive myself from texting for an entire week -- but, could I handle it?

On day one, I felt like something was missing -- the same way coffee drinkers feel without their morning cup. I longed for the feel of the buttons underneath my fingers.

By day two, I was grumpy and stressed because I’d gone from sending and receiving 500 texts a day, down to almost none. Then on day three, while under the influence of cold medicine, my phone shook with a text from a friend. It was a simple reminder to watch our favorite TV show, Vampire Diaries. Without thinking, I pressed the letter “K” and with just one letter, I had broken my no texting streak. But could I be blamed? If someone throws a ball at you, you duck. It’s a reflex, a physical reaction. And that’s how I am about my phone. I reach for it without thinking, and I depend on it. Not just for convenience, but for maintaining my friendships!

I had a BTF – a best texting friend... up until she got a B on her math test. That’s when her grade-obsessed mom flipped out and shut off her internet, limited her TV use, and blocked texting for a month. A month is like one teen year. Relationships rise and fall. Passions change and friendships end…exactly the way ours did because we couldn’t keep in touch.

It’d be an understatement to say that I’m glad to be texting again, but I have to admit that my week without it lead to some positive changes. Like when I walked to BART, I actually looked people instead of staring down at my phone. I realized that the flowers were blooming at my neighbor’s house, something I always I used to love as a kid.

Now that I’m back to my routine, I’m still averaging 500 text messages per day, most days anyway. The biggest difference now is that I’m able to take trips to the beach with my mom and without my cell phone. The handful of times we’ve done that have been truly relaxing...without any imagined vibrations or nervous grabs for a phone that isn’t there.