All that texting and social networking by teenagers could come back to byte them.

A new study by the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine links poor health behaviors — including smoking, drinking and “immoral activity” — to hyper-texting and hyper-networking.

The study defines hyper-texting as sending more than 120 messages a day. Hyper-networking is spending more than three hours per school day on social network sites like Facebook, it said.

“The startling results of this study suggest that when left unchecked texting and other widely popular methods of staying connected can have dangerous health effects on teenagers,” said Scott Frank, lead researcher on the study. “This should be a wake-up call for parents to not only help their children stay safe by not texting and driving, but by discouraging excessive use of the cell phone or social websites in general.”

The researchers say the results of the study are so striking that they are giving rise to a new health risk category for the age group.

The study is not the first time texting and social networking have come under fire. The activities have been blamed for accidents and promoting bad grammar skills.

In January, federal safety regulators proposed a set of guidelines for states to create laws that would ban text messaging while driving.

Under the proposed guidelines, drivers caught typing on a handheld device while behind the wheel would face a minimum fine of $75 and unspecified action against their driving privileges. In cases resulting in serious injury or death, a driving while texting offense could be considered a felony.

A ban on texting behind the wheel has already been enacted in 19 states and the District of Columbia. Seven states have banned the use of all handheld devices while driving.

And educators have long decried electronic forms of communication for gutting written launguage skills in students, starting with emails, expanding to instant messaging and continuing with text messaging and social networking.

Although, teachers complained about poor grammar before the internet too.

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(Source: CNN)