No joy of text for addicted teen

A Wolverhampton teenager has admitted to SMS addiction after sending more than 2,500 messages in one month.

Barry de Lacey presented a £216 phone bill to his father after he got a new mobile and got too SMS happy.

According to The Sun his father did not believe that the 14 year-old could send so many messages to his friends so he called the phone company to complain.

However, when the unnamed company sent a 38-page fax itemising all 18,678 units of phone time used he had to admit that his son might have a problem.

The boy tapped out an average of more than 80 messages a day, from 9am until 2am. Apparently he had no idea how much each of the texts cost.

His father was quoted by The Sun as saying: "I've invented a new name for the disease - textitis.

"You see kids in the street and on buses doing it all the time and it's all got out of hand. I just don't know how he could keep awake to send out so many messages."