BLOOMINGTON --- Once Staci Roper, 14, starts sending text messages, she finds it hard to stop. " Sometimes I text from the time I get up until I go to bed, except during school," said the eighth-grader at Kingsley Junior High.      Her sister Sara Roper, 18, also texts a lot, saying "It is a lot easier than using the telephone."      For teens, technology has become a common way to start and keep social contacts.      Richard Sullivan, a teacher at Illinois State University, said text messaging has become "the new way of passing notes."      "It is an important tool for social communication, especially for the youth," Sullivan said.      But the girls have to store their mobile phones during school because they can be a distraction , Sullivan said.      That is why parents must monitor  their children's mobile phone use, said Tim Shannon, a child psychologist at Carle Clinic in Bloomington.      The same technologies that can help communication can be  _ if children use them to ignore their family at supper, Shannon said.      While Linda Roper does not allow her children to text massages during meals, she usually does not need to intervene . "My kids are both very disciplined  and good about doing their homework," she said.      Gary and Mary Carstens also do not allow their children to text at supper or at family get-togethers.      Their daughter, Kayla, 14, usually texts more on weekends when she has more free time. Kayla likes text messaging "because others can't hear you."      The Carstens got Kayla a mobile phone several years ago because she is active in after-class sports and the phone allows her parents to keep in touch with her.      Mary Carstens believes all the communication allowed by modern technology is good for her kids. Kayla prefers text messaging because   _  .
her mother tells her to do so she doesn't like communicating face to face she has a lot of free tome to do so she can keep what she says a secret