Tonight we continue our partnership with the National Committee for Families and Children in observance of International Day of Children's Broadcasting with another report from a young person..
Sarah McGaughey is an 18 year old student at SJC Sixth Form and we wanted her to find out about text messaging amongst her peers.
"It may sound mundane, but increasingly, text messaging is becoming a central part of our daily discourse: The Prime Minister and the Leader Of The Opposition do it, your children do it, and, by now, your parents probably do as well.
On last night's news - you saw John Brackett protest against the dreadful habit of texting and
driving and all across Belize tonight, exasperated parents will be telling children: "aren't you tired of texting?"
Well, the truth is they aren't. Sarah McGaughey went to school to teach us how much texting dominates the daily diet of the average young person:…
Sarah McGaughey
"Texting is a major fixation for my generation. But how bad is it? I came to school to find out."
Sarah McGaughey
"How much text do you send per day?"
Student
"No less than 100."
Student
"About 30 or so."
Student
"Per day I usually answers like 150 texts."
Student
"That is a good question. You can ask a local Chinese that question, I would say more or less like 200."
Student
"Per day maybe, 100."
Student
"About 50."
Student
"100 and more."
Student
"Maybe 50."
Student
"Less than 50."
Student
"A lot. Like 200 per day, something like that."
Student
"I would have to say maybe 3 times an hour, Every time a text comes in I answer it."
Student
"Like over 100."
Student
"About 350."
Sarah McGaughey
"How often do you text?"
Student
"Every day."
Student
"Usually I text throughout he entire day but space out."
Student
"Every minute."
Student
"Every second, every minute basically."
Student
"I text like daily. It's part of my living like breathing."
Student
"Every day."
Student
"Every day."
Student
"Every often, like every minute."
Student
"Like all the time."
Student
"Whenever I feel like it."
Student
"Maybe like every 3-4 seconds."
Sarah McGaughey
"Is there a downtime for texting, like when you don't text or when you don't get text messages?"
Student
"I guess right after I get home, after I start doing homework."
Student
"When nobody text me."
Student
"No not really."
Student
"When I am sleeping."
Student
"Maybe when I have a test in class."
Student
"No."
Student
"Only when I am busy doing chores."
Student
"When I am doing my homework."
Student
"When I am not eating, sleeping or taking a shower."
Student
"When I am doing my homework sometimes."
Student
"No."
Student
"When I am eating. When I am sleeping of course."
Sarah McGaughey
"Judging by those answers you can see that texting is to be very important for the life of many young people. Some admit to being quite dependent on texting while others are in denial."
Sarah McGaughey
"Do you consider yourself to be text dependent?"
Student
"Not necessarily no."
Student
"No not really, I prefer one on one conversation more than text."
Student
"No, actually Facebook works as well."
Student
"No but I think my activities would show otherwise."
Student
"Probably yea."
Student
"Not really."
Student
"Yes I think especially in today's world. Everyone depends on their text messages."
Student
"Yes I could."
Student
"Not exactly, but yes."
Student
"Yes I am."
Student
"Yes I am text dependent."
Student
"Lately yes."
For international children's day of broadcasting and Channel 7, I am Sarah McGaughey.
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