Sleep texting is a growing problem among teens, according to health experts. Many adolescents who sleep with their cellphone near or sometimes in their beds, are sometimes sending texts without remembering they did so the next morning.

Dr. Gerald Rosen, who leads the pediatric sleep disorders program at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, believes teens are being conditioned to respond to their phones almost maternally.

“If you’re a mother, you awaken to the sound of your child crying,” Rosen says. “Even if it’s not a loud noise, it will trigger an awakening. That’s essentially what’s happening with lots of kids with their phones.”

He believes there are deeper problems to explore when anyone gets so attached to a piece of technology. “For them, the cellphone is a life link,” he adds, “and this is central to how they view the world.” (Star Tribune)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife Wendy and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.