Computer Addiction – obsessive playing of off-line computer games, such as Solitaire or Minesweeper, or obsessive computer programming.

Despite school policies restricting mobile phone usage, students use the phone frequently, with the majority making calls from the toilets.

Over 60% of the respondents admitted to being “very” or “quite” addicted to the internet, while over 50% are addicted to their mobile phones. The report also revealed that students spend, on average, 1-2 hours a day on social network sites.

These teens, when they receive a text, feel they must respond to it right away.

In addition, 12 percent of all students are able to have cell phones at school anytime during the day; 62 percent of students are allowed a cell phone at school, but not in class; 64 percent of teens have texted in class; 24 percent attend schools that ban cell phones from school grounds, but 65 percent bring their phones to school anyway.

Place reasonable limits on computer usage.

Adhere to your imposed computer usage limits.

Consider why you are using the computer if your usage becomes excessive. Boredom, anxiety, and depression

Talk with your child about his/her excessive computer usage

Move the computer to an open area if it’s not already in one – sometimes taking it out of the child’s bedroom is sufficient to reduce their computer usage, and it makes it easier to monitor their usage.

Set a password for the computer so that only you can log on to it

"Let the technology work for you," Merlo suggests. "When the technology starts to become a burden or starts to interfere with your life, that's a good point for you to stop and really examine is this what I want for myself and what I want for my life."

Studies show the average teenager texts about 3,000 times a month

Neuro-imaging studies have shown that those kids who are texting have that area of the brain light up the same as an addict using heroin," said brain specialist Dr. Michael Seyffert.

1 Lack of social interaction. Using the computer for pleasure, gratification, or relief from stress. Feeling irritable and out of control or depressed when not using it. Spending increasing amounts of time and money on hardware, software, magazines, and computer-related activities. Neglecting work, school, or family obligations. Lying about the amount of time spent on computer activities. Risking loss of career goals, educational objectives, and personal relationships. Failing at repeated efforts to control computer use.

"You become irritable when you can't use it. The Internet goes down and you lose your mind. You start to hide your use."

"The first thing to do is take a long, hard look at how you are using technologies, and then to start to set some limits," he said. "You have to take off a couple hours and make those hours important enough that you don't allow yourself to be interrupted. I think we should have certain rules. We don’t break up, fire people or break traumatic news to people via e-mail or text message."

An inability to predict the amount of time you spend on the computer; A sense of euphoria while using the computer; Lying to employers and family about computer activity; Withdrawal from real life hobbies and social interactions; and Health issues such as carpal tunnel syndrome, eye strain, weight gain and backaches.

At schools where cell phones are forbidden, 58 percent of students with mobile phones say they've sent a text message during class.

For some, the amplification is intense. Allison Miller, 14, sends and receives 27,000 texts in a month, her fingers clicking at a blistering pace as she carries on as many as seven text conversations at a time. She texts between classes, at the moment soccer practice ends, while being driven to and from school and, often, while studying. Most of the exchanges are little more than quick greetings, but they can get more in-depth, like “if someone tells you about a drama going on with someone,” Allison said. “I can text one person while talking on the phone to someone else.” But this proficiency comes at a cost: she blames multitasking for the three B’s on her recent progress report.

“I’ll be reading a book for homework and I’ll get a text message and pause my reading and put down the book, pick up the phone to reply to the text message, and then 20 minutes later realize, ‘Oh, I forgot to do my homework.’ ”