The Effect of Texting on College Students Ages 18-22's Test Scores and GPA. In any college town, on any day or time, a person might stop on a corner and look around to most likely see numerous students walking by while texting on their cell phones. It may seem obvious that this action will cause students to be distracted and possibly move closer to something or someone, but there is a bigger problem to address. The broader question I'm interested in is the effect this increased use of text messaging might have on college students' learning abilities. In my study, I will examine the correlation between the amount of texting of college students between the ages of 18 and 22 in the Bay Area as it relates to test scores and overall GPA. It is believed that students with a higher average of text messages sent and received will correlate with lower test scores and grades. This study will include 400 college students between the ages of 18 and 22 from schools throughout Northern California. Colleges including, but not limited to, are Berkeley City College, UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, Stanford University, Humboldt University, UC Davis, and CSU Chico. Participants will be recruited through work-study and campus advertising. Participants will be offered a monetary incentive on a monthly basis in exchange for information regarding messaging usage, scores and text transcripts for a period of four years. This will result in a random selection of students from the chosen schools and will constitute a representative sample of Northern California College students between the ages of 18 and 22. To give the study a general perspective on all college students, participants will not be chosen based on a specific title… midway through the test… when they support or oppose their decisions. Additionally, students will be able to use the information gathered in this study to make personal decisions about the amount of texting when deciding what paths to take to succeed in their college careers. Also other positive uses of the information found in this survey. If it turns out that texting can have a profound effect on academic success, schools, as well as students, may be inclined to develop alternative uses for text messaging. As smartphone purchasing is on the rise among college students, it appears a compromise can be reached for teachers and schools to embrace text messaging and use it to communicate with their students about homework and other school-related communications. Overall, this study will allow for a reevaluation of possible precautions and changes needed across college campuses.