Third Of Teens With Cell Phones Text 100 Times A Day

textingA new study has confirmed what teens have known forever: text messaging is the most preferred form of communication. Talking on the phone (and, of course, we’re talking cell phone) is a close second. This information comes courtesy of the “Teens and Mobile Phones,” survey released Tuesday  by the Washington-based Pew Research Center’s on-going Pew Internet & American Life Project.  The 94-page report — a survey of 800 teens between 12 and 17, and another of their parents — is filled with more numbers than a teen’s telephone contact list. Among the findings: The average adolescent sends or receives 50 or more messages a day, or 1,500 texts per month.

 Thirty-one percent of teens send and receive more than 100 messages per day or more than 3,000 messages a month, and 15 percent send more than 200 texts a day.

 Girls tend to be much more avid texters than boys, typically sending and receiving 80 messages per day compared to 30 for boys.

 Seventy-five percent of teens have cell phones, up from 45 percent in 2004, but they make calls much less often — about five per day – than they tap out texts.

 Of the 75 percent of teens who own cell phones, 87 percent use text messaging at least occasionally, according to the survey conducted between June 2009 and September 2009.

 Two-thirds of teen texters are more likely to use their cellphones to text their friends than talk to them on the phone.

 “The widespread availability of unlimited texting plans has transformed communication patterns of American teens,” said Pew’s Amanda Lenhart, a co-author of the report. “This is a shift in the location and style of teens’ communication with friends, not necessarily a radical change or expansion of it,” she added.

 While teens are texting more than ever, the telephone call does, however remain the preferred mode that teens use to connect with their parents, the study found.

 The study also looked at some of the ways teens use their cellphones beyond texting and talking.

 Eighty-three percent of teens with cellphones use them to take pictures, 60 percent use them to play music and 46 percent play games on their phones.

 Twenty-seven percent use their phones to go online, 23 percent access social networking sites and 11 percent use their phones to buy things.

 Sixty-four percent of the parents surveyed look at the contents of their child’s cellphone and 62 percent have taken the device away as punishment.

 Just over half — 52 percent — of parents limit the times of day their child may use their phone and 46 percent limit the number of minutes.

 Forty-eight percent of parents use the phone to monitor their child’s whereabouts and 98 percent of parents of cell-owning teens said a major reason their child has a phone is so they can be in touch at all times.

 Thirty-four percent of teens aged 16 and 17 who text said they have texted while driving, while 52 percent of cell-owning teens said they have talked on a cell phone while behind the wheel. APP

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