An astounding one in three teenagers sends out more than 100 text messages a day, according to a new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Eighty-seven percent of the teens in the study sleep with their cell phones so they can be available to answer text messages all night long.
Other findings from the survey include the following:
- Girls send out an average of 80 messages a day, compared to 30 for boys.
- The teenagers told the Pew researchers that they felt that they had to be constantly available to their friends to receive and send text messages.
- Texting was the most popular form of communication, followed by cell phones, talking face to face, landline phones, social network sites like Facebook, instant messaging, and e-mail.
- The older teens in the survey texted the most often. Children of parents who try to control their use of cell phones were less likely to transmit sexy pictures of themselves.
Teachers told the Pew researchers that cell phones are "a disruptive force that must be managed and often excluded from the school in the classroom."
Labels: text messaging, teen_culture, cell phones
Posted By: Jane St. Clair