97 percent of young adults use text messaging

[Shawn Knight]

A new study from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project indicates that 83 percent of American adults own mobile phones and that 73 percent of them send and receive text messages. Of the percentage polled that text, nearly a third of them prefer to send and receive text messages instead of talking on the phone.

It comes as no surprise that young adults are the most active texters. Pew says that phone owners between the ages of 18 and 24 collectively send and receive an average of nearly 110 messages on a normal day, or more than 3,200 texts per month. 12 percent of users claim to send or receive more than 200 messages per day, or over 6,000 messages a month. 95 percent of users in this age group own a mobile phone and 97 percent of them use text messaging.

Age groups aside, texters as a whole send or receive an average of 41.5 texts on a regular day; a number that researchers say hasn’t changed much from the previous year. Also unchanged is the number of phone calls that mobile phone owners make or receive in a single day, which remains at 12.

The study also breaks down text messaging by gender, race or ethnicity, household income and education level. The survey found that African Americans and Hispanics text rates are significantly higher than whites. Additionally, text rates are higher among individuals with lower incomes and lesser education.

Thumbnail image via Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock

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https://www.techspot.com/news/45543-97-percent-of-young-adults-use-text-messaging.html

 

[RH00D]

In my area it's very common to see people who shouldn't have a smartphone (for financial reasons) to have one. I guess it's just a matter of priorities. I'm a white male, age 18 and I text more but I prefer voice calling. Texting is often more convenient and I communicate with people that would be long-distance if I were to call.

My texts per day sometimes might be <10 but some days it can go >200. That usually only happens when I'm having a long conversation with someone who would be long-distance if I called. I'm also limited to 10 *free* minutes per day until after 6pm. So my cell phone plan discourages voice calling, but if I were to get a plan for more calling that would be more expensive. My current plan is $20 per month. Suits my needs for everything I require. If I need to share pictures, I have Facebook for that. If I need to video call, I have Skype for that. If I need to have in-depth conversations through text, I have Facebook Chat / Windows Live Messenger for that. For games, well, I save gaming time for my desktop PC.

 

[TomSEA]

Glad to see my age group is holding down the average. I can't stand texting. I can't stand talking on the phone either (I'm an e-mail guy), but texting is much worse to me. Too slow, too tedious, and you're stuck carrying around and staring at a device for what seems like hours on end. For what? Who needs to talk to that much? Especially in 166 character bursts?

Go out for a beer and talk face-to-face. That's my style.

 

[Benny26]

I'm not a text person either. I also can't stand the constant barrage of texts people get when i'm with them and trying to talk.

 

[Timonius]

Don't even own a cell phone. It's the biggest consumer ripoff since the invention of the big box grocery store (where's my real fresh and healthy veggies? Oh, their down the street at the 'organic' market for ten times the price if it is really THAT much healthier). Yeah I'll help hold down the average for a while longer.

 

[aj_the_kidd]

I remember the days where I spent more time texting then calling, mainly because i couldnt afford it, so the conclusion that "text rates are higher among individuals with lower incomes and lesser education." is not a surprise. I still text more than i call but thats due to convenience more then anything

 

[1977TA]

Don't even own a cell phone. It's the biggest consumer ripoff since the invention of the big box grocery store (where's my real fresh and healthy veggies? Oh, their down the street at the 'organic' market for ten times the price if it is really THAT much healthier). Yeah I'll help hold down the average for a while longer.

You probably won't think they are a rip off when you need one in an emergency. GPS, movies times, reviews, etc... all at the palm of your fingers.They are also probably the best invention for keeping in contact with your kids ie teenagers. Not to mention cell phones are a must in the corporate world.

Sure, some cell phone plans are crazy expensive but remember before cell phones took over we ( the consumer ) were paying out the ***** for our land lines, remember getting bent over for long distance?? I can't remember the last time I had a land line.

When I don't want to talk to people I just turn the phone off.

 

[RH00D]

TomSEA said:
Glad to see my age group is holding down the average. I can't stand texting. I can't stand talking on the phone either (I'm an e-mail guy), but texting is much worse to me. Too slow, too tedious, and you're stuck carrying around and staring at a device for what seems like hours on end. For what? Who needs to talk to that much? Especially in 166 character bursts?

Go out for a beer and talk face-to-face. That's my style.

You mean to say you enjoy email, while hating texting more than voice calling? I can't say I understand how that works, but you know, different strokes for different folks!

 

[Wendig0]

Timonius said:
Don't even own a cell phone. It's the biggest consumer ripoff since the invention of the big box grocery store (where's my real fresh and healthy veggies? Oh, their down the street at the 'organic' market for ten times the price if it is really THAT much healthier). Yeah I'll help hold down the average for a while longer.

This is, quite possibly, one of the most asinine comments I've read on Techspot. I suppose that I can understand not owning or needing a cell phone. Perhaps you're just an extremely introverted individual that only comes out of his house when there is a Hunter's Moon, I don't know, but to say that they are "the biggest consumer ripoff since the invention of the big box grocery store" is simply..... Well I don't want to personally insult you, so I'll just say that this is a technology site bud, and cell phones fall into the category of technology.

 

[matrix86]

Timonius said:
Don't even own a cell phone. It's the biggest consumer ripoff since the invention of the big box grocery store...

Meh, this depends on who you are. For example, my ex-wife. She works in delivery. Thanks to smartphones and data plans, her life is a whole lot simpler (same for her employer). Now, instead of getting calls over the radio about orders, having to pull out the city map and spend a minute or two tracing out the rout from the restaurant to the consumers house, her boss simply sends her the order in an email, where she then tells Google Navigate the address to the consumer's house while she's waiting on the food. When she gets there, she texts her boss that she's done and if there's another order standing by, he emails it to her. The business is moving faster thanks to smartphones. The employees no longer have to lug around radios and write down what they're supposed to be picking up (since even though the orders are faxed to the restaurants, the restaurants sometimes screw up and the drivers have to correct them) and thanks to voice notes, they can dictate their mileage and not have to stop and write it down.

Long story short, lol, for some, smartphones are time savers.

 

[arkantos]

you can say alot on texting compared on calling, you never run out of words when you write text messages.

 

[Timonius]

Wendig0 said:

Timonius said:
Don't even own a cell phone. It's the biggest consumer ripoff since the invention of the big box grocery store (where's my real fresh and healthy veggies? Oh, their down the street at the 'organic' market for ten times the price if it is really THAT much healthier). Yeah I'll help hold down the average for a while longer.

This is, quite possibly, one of the most asinine comments I've read on Techspot.

Yup, I guess I earned it ;P

Anyway, I'm a bit of a technology hypocrite. Some tech is good and other stuff is useless (like texting, imo). I'm just not a fan of cell phones (most especially texting) in spite of all the good they can be used for. All the other tech I use is fairly up to date.

 

[Archean]

My last month's average sms rate was 0.06 per/day ............. whereas my outgoing calls usually averages about 35 (+/-) min. per day, mainly because texting on a smartphone is an unwanted hassle IMO.

 

[gwailo247]

Texting is great when there is no urgency, or you can't talk out loud.

A lot (most?) companies don't let you talk on your cell at work, you can't talk when you drive, etc. So if you want to convey some information to someone via phone call, you'll probably end up leaving a voice mail. And most people are at work or driving 8-10 hours a day, which is a pretty big period of time they can't really talk on their cell phone.

With a text, you can convey the information, and the person can respond at their leisure. An e-mail is just a text message delivered via a different network, so I don't really see much distinction there, except inputting the message.

 

[Guest]

I have a cell phone and hate it. for good reason... So im driveing home from a crap day at work. You got 5 missed messages.
1st Hunny I forgot to grabe creem at the store can you stop and get some.

2nd also can you get some hammberger but i dont like the stuff frome that store so go to this buchershope they have better meat.

3rd Hunny sorry but we also need ice were having company over.

4th Hunny hurry I need this stuff soon

5th where are you!

I love my cell phone

 

[Guest]

@ Timonius
Lol. I still think it's good to at least have a cell phone. You don't need to get any of those fancy cell if you don't need so just go for the most basic plan and basic phone. It's always a good way for your family member to be able to contact you in some way if they need you in an emergency. For me I love to be able to do so much with my cellphone so I got those nice smartphones. My mother on the other hand only needs it so that it is always possible for me and my father to be able to contact her in case of an emergency so she has a very simple plan which has discounts as she works for Farmers Insurance and the cost becomes like around 15 dollars per month.

 

[greatman05]

Since I'm a youngster that would fall into the low-income group, I guess I feel the need to say something about this (even though it's a month old). I have a smartphone from MetroPCS, and it's the most convenient thing to ever own. I can look up bus routes whenever I need to, create and manage shopping lists electronically, check my e-mail, text, and everything else I would want to do with a smartphone for $50 a month. It's like a little computer in my hand, so I don't need to lug around a laptop if I don't want to. And, I don't even worry about overages since everything is unlimited! I think these things are great; I used to think they were useless myself, but when I started using one and understanding what it really could be used for, I was hooked.