Long Island Teen Wins Second Place in National Science Award

A science experiment about what happens when text-happy teens are separated from their cell phones netted a Long Island teen who is aspiring to be a scientist a $75,000 award.

Michelle Hackman, 17, from Great Neck went up against 40 other competitors from across the nation to take second place at the Intel Science Talent Search, the national science research competition for high school seniors. Hackman, who is blind, said she got a little weak-kneed standing on stage waiting for her name to be called.

"It was absolutely crazy," Hackman said. "I really thought that I was going to faint and a couple of audience members told me they felt the same way."

The teen said she got the idea for her project when she was hanging out with friends. She noticed they were texting each other non-stop. Hackman said she took cell phones away from 150 of her fellow students at Great Neck North High School for 45 minutes and measured their anxiety levels. She said she found text messages had almost the same effect on teens as illicit drugs.

"Cell phones affect the same brain circuitry as does cocaine," Hackman said. "Each text message we receive is almost like a hit of cocaine in that it's so stimulating. It's such a quick burst of stimulation that once it goes away ... we almost go through a withdrawal. We start to crave."

Hackman lost her eyesight when she was 8-years old. She said not being able to see forced her to design her study in a better way.

While the Intel Science Foundation encourages competitors to do their own research, she said to pull together a group of about 10 assistants. Hackman heads to Yale in the Fall. She said she wants to study psychology.