adj.
Preoccupied by reading or sending text messages, particularly while driving a car.
—intexticating pp.
—intextication n.
Example Citations:
The usual concerns arise, knowing teen drivers will be packing the ever-present buzzing and ringing cell phones from which most seem incapable of parting. We've had the discussion many times at our house of the idiocy of driving while using a cell phone and especially driving while "intexticated," and as confident as I am that my kid won't do it, there's always that nagging concern that the slightest distraction can lead to tragic consequences.
—Lorrie Lykins, " Parents, teens need safe driving contract: http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/roads/article1005532.ece," St. Petersburg Times, May 31, 2009
A British study has found that 'intexticated' drivers are worse than intoxicated ones, and even as dangerous as those who do drugs and drive.
Nearly 50 percent of the drivers ages 18 to 24 surveyed said that they sent text messages while driving, according to the study by Britain's Royal Automobile Club.
—Ginny MacDonald, " Texting while driving worse than drunken driving, British study finds: http://bama.live.advance.net/news/birminghamnews/drivers.ssf?/base/news/123840094585910.xml&coll=2," Birmingham News, March 30, 2009
Earliest Citation:
Aronson isn't alone when it comes to teenage drivers who text message while driving. In a recent informal Fox news survey done in Minneapolis, a large majority of the 161 teens interviewed admitted to "driving while intexticated."
Eighty-six percent of teens surveyed said they read incoming messages while in the driver's seat, and 75 percent said they typed them. On a driving course, cameras recorded some teens taking their eyes off the road for three seconds to text.
—April Dembosky, "Driving while intexticated," The Patriot Ledger, July 14, 2007
Notes:
This sense of the word intexticated (a slightly awkward play on intoxicated) was added to Urban Dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=intexticated by Courtney Terry on May 24, 2007, which is a few months before the earliest media citation. An older sense of the term — to text while drunk — dates to late 2003:
More than 15 million drunken text messages will be sent by inebriated Britons every day in December, according to new research.
"Intexticating", the habit of sending inappropriate messages on mobiles while drunk, affects one in four Brits.
—Emma Britton, "Intexticated," The Mirror, December 22, 2003
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New words. 2013.