--- title: CDC Finds Teens Text and Drive at High Rates Despite Campaigns description: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found kids are still engaging in a range of risky behaviors, despite a reported drop in cigarette use. canonical: https://time.com/2869683/kids-texting-driving/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-13T12:19:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:01:15.295Z article:section: Health og:title: CDC Finds Teens Text and Drive at High Rates Despite Campaigns og:description: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found kids are still engaging in a range of risky behaviors, despite a reported drop in cigarette use. og:url: https://time.com/2869683/kids-texting-driving/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CDC Finds Teens Text and Drive at High Rates Despite Campaigns twitter:description: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found kids are still engaging in a range of risky behaviors, despite a reported drop in cigarette use. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 4 in 10 Teens Admit Texting While Driving > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=8dad94d8-d297-4643-a6ee-b662504e51cb&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: New Mexico Tells Teens to Text Their Sex Questions [Watch (HLS stream): New Mexico Tells Teens to Text Their Sex Questions](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BwWdbxuE.m3u8) (1:12)  _Published 2013-09-20. The New Mexico Health Department is offering a new texting service for teens to answer their questions about sex_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 13, 2014 12:19 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 13, 2014 12:19 PM UTC Today’s teens are distracted behind the wheel, according to a new survey. Though they aren’t [smoking cigarettes in high rates](http://time.com/2864214/teen-smoking-is-way-down-but-what-about-e-cigs/), or regularly driving drunk, about 41% of America’s driving teens reported that they had texted or emailed while driving. This is in spite of the often horrifying [commercials](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl2xhfVUu0Y) and [campaigns](http://www.allstate.com/auto-insurance/teen-text-pledge.aspx) aimed at keeping teen drivers’ eyes on the road while behind the wheel. The findings, published in the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss6304.pdf)’s latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey, are especially daunting given the fact that the bulk of teen deaths are the result of motor vehicle crashes. But texting and driving isn’t the only risky business teens are engaging in. Though teens aren’t watching as much TV as they were in 1999, more are using the computer for longer periods of time. About 41.3% said they’re using computers for more than 3 hours a day, up from 31.1% in 2011\. About 14.8% of students said they had been bullied online, compared to 19.8% who had been bullied at school. And sitting in front of screen does little to help the nearly [21% of adolescents](http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm) considered obese. Another risk that should have parents worried: sexually active teens are using condoms a bit less than they have in the past. About 47% of students said they had ever had sex, but of the 34% of teens that are sexually active, only about 59% are using condoms, down from 63% in 2003. The annual survey of a nationally representative sample of ninth through 12th graders in the U.S. examines the unhealthy behaviors teens have engaged in over the past 12 months to gage what leads to the unintentional injury, obesity, and unplanned pregnancy within the group. About 13,500 surveys, which were administered at public and private high schools, were examined to determine results. ## Transcript A whole new twist to the birds and the bees talk. Now teens can text their questions about sex to a special hotline, avoiding an uncomfortable chat with mom and dad. I think that's great. I think that the more education, the more communication they have To better educate themselves on whatever question they have, I think that's perfect. The New Mexico Department of Health Program has a cool, catchy name Birds and Bees, the text questions go out to an organization in North Carolina. Be upfront and direct with your boyfriend in letting him know you do not want to have sex. Every message ends encouraging the teen to talk to a parent. Or another trusted adult. Yes, I think that's a good answer. Then yet who's, who's answering these text's, and what qualifications do they have and stuff like that, you know? That's another thing we gotta look at also. Certified health educators with years of experience answer the questions. Well for the past several years, we have had very high teen birth rates and we just feel that this would be an asset to help reduce the teen birth rates. The birds and the bees. 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