AfterDawn: News

Teenage girls send over 100 texts a day, on average

According to a new report by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project, texting among American teenagers has exploded over the past years, with 14-to-17-year old girls averaging over 100 sent and received per day.

Overall, over 30 percent of all those surveyed sent 100 per day while 50 percent send over 50.



As of September 2009, 54 percent of teenagers sent at least one message daily, an increase from the 38 percent figure in Pew's data taken a year before.

Teenage boys only averaged 20 per day.

Says the report: "They are using [mobile phones] to share stories and photos. They are using them to entertain themselves when they are bored. They are using them to microcoordinate their schedules and face-to-face gather­ings. And some are using their phones to go online to browse the Web, to participate in social networks and check their e-mails."

On the other hand, the report goes into the "darker" aspects of the texting growth saying: "Teens are also using mobile phones to cheat on tests and to skirt rules at school and with their parents. Some are using their phones to send sexts, others are sleeping with buzzing phones under their pillows, and some are using their phones to place calls and text while driving."

The strong growth in texting is thanks to the increasing number of unlimited text subscriptions purchased.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Apr 2010 21:11

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• 12 comments

• jos22

  when a new twilight movie gets released this figure goes to at least 300.
  
  sounds right tho girls do talk 5 times more about crap no one cares about than boys do
  

  20.4.2010 21:29 #1

• DarkJello

  Buzzing phone under their pillow? WTF does that mean?
  

  
  
  
  

  20.4.2010 21:32 #2

• slickwill

  Originally posted by DarkJello: Buzzing phone under their pillow? WTF does that mean? More like buzzing phones between their.....
  
  I've heard that it does not cost the cellphone companies anything (in means of bandwidth), because the text are sent using left over packets. Hence, unlimited texting.

  20.4.2010 22:19 #3

• hikaricor

  Buzzing phones under their pillow means they're putting their phone on vibrate and napping while they chat... dense much?

  20.4.2010 22:41 #4

• WierdName

  ...Was a researched report really necessary? Yes, yes it was. Why? Because it's actually significantly lower than I expected.
  

  Doesnt expecting the unexpected make the unexpected expected and therefore mean youre expecting the expected which was the unexpected until you expected it?
  "Opinions are immunities to being told were wrong." - Relient K

  20.4.2010 22:48 #5

• beanos66

  [sarcasm]teenage girls like texting? what will come as a bigger suprise is that they also like justin bieber and the twilight movies[/sarcasm]

  21.4.2010 10:21 #6

• gnovak1

  What ever happened to good old fashioned conversation?

  21.4.2010 11:23 #7

• jonscott

  Understanding how youth use mobile phones is vital to creating effective policy based on the reality of how the technology is used. It is also important to understand how telecommunications company policies and pricing affect how teens and parents use their phones
  

  21.4.2010 12:29 #8

• scorch2

  who cares?

  21.4.2010 15:07 #9

• chengqin

  spam edited by ddp

  21.4.2010 22:48 #10

• Jemborg

  Originally posted by DarkJello: Buzzing phone under their pillow? WTF does that mean? I'm almost certain that it means they are missing out on a proper decent sleep. Something, I assume, teenagers need.... it's badly worded hey?
  

  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  

  22.4.2010 11:29 #11

• juventini

  This is promising news; maybe now they'll stop bitching less and texting more. I dont mind the texting. I just can't stand the bitching. :P
  

  Forza Juve!!

  26.4.2010 23:41 #12