How many text messages have you sent today?
OMG! Teens Now Text More Than Talk Face to Face
Carl Franzen Contributor
AOL News (April 20) -- Not so long ago, "text" simply described plain old letters on a page. Today, according to new research, it's become the primary method of communication for America's teenagers, more popular even than face-to-face conversations.
It's enough to make even the least tech-savvy of adults sit up straight and go, "OMG!"
News of the paradigm shift comes by way of a report on "Teens and Mobile Phones," released today by the Pew Research Center. After surveying some 800 teens ages 12 to 17, Pew found that 54 percent were daily texters, up drastically from just 38 percent in 2008, and now far outpacing actually talking to each another, which rests at a measly 33 percent.
Carl Franzen Contributor
AOL News (April 20) -- Not so long ago, "text" simply described plain old letters on a page. Today, according to new research, it's become the primary method of communication for America's teenagers, more popular even than face-to-face conversations.
It's enough to make even the least tech-savvy of adults sit up straight and go, "OMG!"
News of the paradigm shift comes by way of a report on "Teens and Mobile Phones," released today by the Pew Research Center. After surveying some 800 teens ages 12 to 17, Pew found that 54 percent were daily texters, up drastically from just 38 percent in 2008, and now far outpacing actually talking to each another, which rests at a measly 33 percent.
Teens are texting more than ever, and girls on average send more than twice the number of text messages that boys do, a Pew Research study says. (Olivier Morin, AFP/Getty Images)Just as staggering is the sheer volume of texting being done by today's teens. The study found that half of all those it surveyed send upwards of 50 text messages a day, for a total of 1,500 a month. One in three sent more than 100 a day. The researchers also noted a distinct gender divide, with young women texting on average much more than young men (80 texts daily versus 30), a finding that contradicts results of previous studies on the same subject.
The Pew study does more than just provide raw data on the texting trend. It analyzes how such extensive cell phone use complicates relationships with authority figures, reporting that "for parents, teens' attachment to their phones is an area of conflict and regulation," especially as their parents attempt to limit usage and control the contents of information being sent and stored.
More than two-thirds of parents reportedly check the contents of their child's phone, and 62 percent have taken it away as a form of punishment. Meanwhile, 64 percent of the teens surveyed admitted to texting in class, despite the fact that 65 percent of the study group attended schools that completely banned cell phones.
Pew also briefly addresses the phenomenon of "Sexting," which has resulted in numerous legal problems and personal tragedies for many teens in recent years. The report notes that 4 percent of the teens surveyed "say they have sent a sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude image of themselves to someone via text message," while 15 percent had received such images. Pew also published a study late last year specifically addressing "Teens and Sexting," but the implications of those findings are likely to change in light of the latest report.
Reacting to the findings, technology guru and parent Cory Doctorow drew a comparison between the mobile phone's place in the lives of today's teens and the place held by cars for teens of the past. Writing on Boing Boing, Doctorow observes that the explosion of teen drivers beginning in the postwar era produced something else now taken for granted:
The widespread adoption of driving licenses by teens meant that for the first time in American history, practically every adolescent could be expected to carry government-issued identity papers. ...
The ubiquitous mobile phone in adolescent hands has meant an enormous increase in adolescent freedom to communicate and to form groups to take action. But it's also meant an unprecedented (and as yet, largely unfelt) increase in the amount of surveillance data available to parents and authority figures, from social graphs of who talks to whom to logs of movement to actual records of calls and texts.
Meanwhile, around the Web, Doctorow's fellow tech writers -- joined by no shortage of parents -- reached their own conclusions about the deeper truths the study revealed.
TechCrunch blogger Scott Merrill wasn't moved, saying the study just shows "what everyone already knows." At rival research firm Poynter, Damon Kiesow was similarly unimpressed with Pew's survey, summarizing it as follows: "A new report from the Pew Research Center confirms what every parent of a teenager already knows: Kids send a lot of text messages."
However, he did concede that the study had one surprising finding: the enduring appeal of text-based messages in the face of flashier new technologies like video chatting. "Text messaging is often viewed as an outdated technology, but an emerging generation of avid texters may force a reconsideration of that approach."
San Francisco Chronicle writer Ryan Kim recognized that practicality played a large role in the difference between teens' communications with their peers and with their parents: "If teens want to convince a parent they're OK or need to wheedle something out of them, they'll switch to voice calls. Text messaging is more for avoiding arguments or nosy questions." He also highlighted Pew's finding that while texting is way up among teens, e-mail use by the age group is on a simultaneously steady decline, down from 15 percent in 2008 to 11 percent in 2009.
The Wall Street Journal's Jennifer Valentino-DeVries also commented on this latter finding, observing, "Although e-mail is considered relatively informal by adults, teenagers in the Pew survey said they see it as formal, something used mainly by teachers and parents."
The Washington Post's Donna St. George, meanwhile, was amused to learn that "the connection between American teen and thumb-tapping keypad is so strong that more than four of five adolescents say they have slept with their cell phone in or near their bed." She too brings up sexting, writing that the report "noted a correlation between parental limits on text messaging and a lower likelihood of teen sexting and of teens regretting a text message. More study would have to be done to establish cause and effect."
And indeed, more study is exactly what Pew intends to do. During the past decade, the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the subsidiary of Pew Research that produced the survey, has examined and produced reports on all variety of tech trends, from video games to cloud computing to online banking and more. It is still accepting submissions for recommendations on what subject it should
The Pew study does more than just provide raw data on the texting trend. It analyzes how such extensive cell phone use complicates relationships with authority figures, reporting that "for parents, teens' attachment to their phones is an area of conflict and regulation," especially as their parents attempt to limit usage and control the contents of information being sent and stored.
More than two-thirds of parents reportedly check the contents of their child's phone, and 62 percent have taken it away as a form of punishment. Meanwhile, 64 percent of the teens surveyed admitted to texting in class, despite the fact that 65 percent of the study group attended schools that completely banned cell phones.
Pew also briefly addresses the phenomenon of "Sexting," which has resulted in numerous legal problems and personal tragedies for many teens in recent years. The report notes that 4 percent of the teens surveyed "say they have sent a sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude image of themselves to someone via text message," while 15 percent had received such images. Pew also published a study late last year specifically addressing "Teens and Sexting," but the implications of those findings are likely to change in light of the latest report.
Reacting to the findings, technology guru and parent Cory Doctorow drew a comparison between the mobile phone's place in the lives of today's teens and the place held by cars for teens of the past. Writing on Boing Boing, Doctorow observes that the explosion of teen drivers beginning in the postwar era produced something else now taken for granted:
The widespread adoption of driving licenses by teens meant that for the first time in American history, practically every adolescent could be expected to carry government-issued identity papers. ...
The ubiquitous mobile phone in adolescent hands has meant an enormous increase in adolescent freedom to communicate and to form groups to take action. But it's also meant an unprecedented (and as yet, largely unfelt) increase in the amount of surveillance data available to parents and authority figures, from social graphs of who talks to whom to logs of movement to actual records of calls and texts.
Meanwhile, around the Web, Doctorow's fellow tech writers -- joined by no shortage of parents -- reached their own conclusions about the deeper truths the study revealed.
TechCrunch blogger Scott Merrill wasn't moved, saying the study just shows "what everyone already knows." At rival research firm Poynter, Damon Kiesow was similarly unimpressed with Pew's survey, summarizing it as follows: "A new report from the Pew Research Center confirms what every parent of a teenager already knows: Kids send a lot of text messages."
However, he did concede that the study had one surprising finding: the enduring appeal of text-based messages in the face of flashier new technologies like video chatting. "Text messaging is often viewed as an outdated technology, but an emerging generation of avid texters may force a reconsideration of that approach."
San Francisco Chronicle writer Ryan Kim recognized that practicality played a large role in the difference between teens' communications with their peers and with their parents: "If teens want to convince a parent they're OK or need to wheedle something out of them, they'll switch to voice calls. Text messaging is more for avoiding arguments or nosy questions." He also highlighted Pew's finding that while texting is way up among teens, e-mail use by the age group is on a simultaneously steady decline, down from 15 percent in 2008 to 11 percent in 2009.
The Wall Street Journal's Jennifer Valentino-DeVries also commented on this latter finding, observing, "Although e-mail is considered relatively informal by adults, teenagers in the Pew survey said they see it as formal, something used mainly by teachers and parents."
The Washington Post's Donna St. George, meanwhile, was amused to learn that "the connection between American teen and thumb-tapping keypad is so strong that more than four of five adolescents say they have slept with their cell phone in or near their bed." She too brings up sexting, writing that the report "noted a correlation between parental limits on text messaging and a lower likelihood of teen sexting and of teens regretting a text message. More study would have to be done to establish cause and effect."
And indeed, more study is exactly what Pew intends to do. During the past decade, the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the subsidiary of Pew Research that produced the survey, has examined and produced reports on all variety of tech trends, from video games to cloud computing to online banking and more. It is still accepting submissions for recommendations on what subject it should
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