Thereisplentyofcomplaintsabouthowsocialmedia-textinginparticular-maybeharmingchildren'ssocialandintellectualdevelopment．Butanewstudysuggeststhatconstantinstantmessaging（IM'ing）andtextingamongteensmayalsoprovide

　　There is plenty of complaints about how social media-texting in particular-may be harming children's social and intellectual development．But a new study suggests that constant instant messaging （IM'ing） and texting among teens may also provide benefits，particularly for those who are introverted （内向的）．

　　British researchers studied instant messages exchanged by 231teens，aged 14to 18．All of the participants were"regular"or"extensive"IM'ers．In the U．S．，two thirds of teens use instant messaging services regularly，with a full third messaging at least once every day．

　　The researchers analyzed 150conversations in the study，and reported the results in the journal Computers in Human Behavior．In 100of these chats，the study participant began IM'ing while in a negative emotional state such as sadness，distress or anger．The rest were conversations begun when the participant was feeling good or neutral．After the chat，participants reported about a 20% reduction in their distress-not enough to completely eliminate it，but enough to leave them feeling better than they had before reaching out．

　　"Our findings suggest that IM'ing between distressed adolescents and their peers may provide emotional relief and consequently contribute to their well-being，"the authors write，noting that prior research has shown that people assigned to talk to a stranger either in real life or online improved their mood in both settings，but even more with IM．And people who talk with their real-life friends online also report feeling closer to them than those who just communicate face-to-face，implying a strengthening of their bond．

　　Why would digital communication do better than human contact？The reasons are complex，but may have something to do with the fact that users can control expression of sadness and other emotions via IM without revealing emotional elements like tears that some may consider as embarrassing or sources of discomfort．Studies