Step Talk

SD13 has a cell phone now, and to me it seems to be taking control of her life. At first, I thought her obsessiveness with it was due to it being new, and that would wear off eventually....NOT. She is a text messaging FREAK! I don't understand why teenagers have a mental block when it comes to actually having a conversation on the phone instead of text messaging. Can someone please explain it to me?
She is constantly texting from the time she wakes until the time she goes to sleep...well I think she is even texting in her sleep because her fingers can't stop.

HD and I noticed that her grades have been slipping slightly and it's due to assignments not being done or turned in. Hmmmmm.....could her attention be distracted by text messaging?
Also, she has been coming home from school and because she is soooooooo tired, goes to bed and naps for 2-3 hours. I began to wonder if her texting has been going into the wee hours of the night, which could explain her overwhelming exhaustion.

I checked online with my wireless provider and was able to see detailed text messaging information which showed times and dates texting occurred. Tad-ah...I was right, she has been sending and receiving texts way past midnight and even some were occurring between 2-3am.

I spoke with HD about it, and we decided to approach it with her that we were concerned about her grades and the fact she is so tired/exhausted and feel that text messaging is occurring way past her bedtime and see how she reacts. Now take into consideration, this phone is her lifeline to her socialization and popularity at school! We sat down with her and she immediately became defensive and rude to us..I expected this. Then she whined that she only naps because she needs EXTRA sleep. Her grades have slipped, but she admits she hasn't been turning in homework and will work on it. HD and I listen, and then he tells her that until her grades improve, the phone usage is going to have limitations. She immediately gets rude and starts verbally attacking my HD. I interrupted her, and said "I can get a print out of all the text messaging you have sent/received which also includes the date/times very easily and we can settle this right now....is that what you want me to do?
Of course she shut right up and said, NO.

For now, she has to give me her cell phone when she gets home from school, until all of her homework is finished. If it's finished, she can have it back until 9:30pm. Then the phone is turned off and stays in our bedroom until the next morning. It's only been two days, and she's has a chip on her shoulder towards both of us. GO FIGURE....

Any other thoughts or suggestions on how to regulate text-messaging teens???