Teen Text Messaging Statistics – Teens Texting more than ever (May 2010)

May 10, 2010

Text Messaging Becomes Centerpiece Communication

Published by Pew Internet & American Life Project
The mobile phone has become the favored communication hub for the majority of American teens. And texting is the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends with phone calls coming in second on the list. Some 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones, up from 45% in 2004. Those phones have become indispensable tools in teen communication patterns.

Fully 72% of all teens (88% of teen cell phone users) are text-messagers. That is a sharp rise from the 51% of teens who were texters in 2006. More than half of teens (54%) are daily texters. Of all teens, the frequency of texting has overtaken all common forms of interaction with their friends.

1-in-3 teens sends more than 100 text messages a day, or 3000 texts a month.

2/3 of teens texters say they are more likely to use their cell phones to text their friends than talk to them to them by cell phone.

Among those teen texters:
* Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month.
* 15% of teens who are texters send more than 200 texts a day, or more than 6,000 texts a month.
* Boys typically send and receive 30 texts a day; girls typically send and receive 80 messages per day.
* Teen texters ages 12-13 typically send and receive 20 texts a day.
* 14-17 year-old texters typically send and receive 60 text messages a day.
* Older girls who text are the most active, with 14-17 year-old girls typically sending 100 or more messages a day or more than 3,000 texts a month.
* However, while many teens are avid texters, a substantial minority are not. One-fifth of teen texters (22%) send and receive just one to 10 texts a day or 30 to 300 texts a month.

Calling is still a central function of the cell phone for teens, and for many teens voice is the primary mode of conversing with their parents (surprise, surprise).

Teens use SMS and Text to communicate more than dialing.

CALL STATISTICS
Teens typically make or receive five calls a day. White teens typically make or receive four calls a day, or around 120 calls a month, while black teens exchange seven calls a day or about 210 calls a month and Hispanic teens typically make and receive five calls a day or about 150 calls a month.

TEEN GIRLS SKEW THE RESULTS
Girls more fully embrace most aspects of cell phone-based communication.

As we see with other communicative technologies and applications, girls are more likely than boys to use both text messaging and voice calling and are likely to do each more frequently.

* Girls typically send and receive 80 texts a day; boys send and receive 30.
* 86% of girls text message friends several times a day; 64% of boys do the same.
* 59% of girls call friends on their cell phone every day; 42% of boys call friends daily on their cell phone daily.

Girls are also more likely than boys to text for social reasons, to text privately and to text about school work.

* 59% of girls text several times a day to “just say hello and chat”; 42% of boys do so.
* 84% of girls have long text exchanges on personal matters; 67% of boys have similar exchanges.
* 76% of girls text about school work, while 64% of boys text about school.

PHONE USAGE AT SCHOOL
Most schools treat the phone as a disruptive force that must be managed and often excluded from the school and the classroom.

Even though most schools treat cell phones as something to be contained and regulated, teens are nevertheless still texting frequently in class.

* 12% of all students say they can have their phone at school at any time.
* 62% of all students say they can have their phone in school, just not in class.
* 24% of teens attend schools that ban all cell phones from school grounds.
* Still, 65% of cell-owning teens at schools that completely ban phones bring their phones to school every day.
* 58% of cell-owning teens at schools that ban phones have sent a text message during class.
* 43% of all teens who take their phones to school say they text in class at least once a day or more.
* 64% of teens with cell phones have texted in class; 25% have made or received a call during class time.

TEEN MOBILE INTERNET USAGE
Cell phones help bridge the digital divide by providing internet access to less privileged teens. Still, for some teens, using the internet from their mobile phone is “too expensive.”

Teens from low-income households, particularly African-Americans, are much more likely than other teens to go online using a cell phone. This is a pattern that mirrors Pew Internet Project findings about adults and their cell phones.

* 21% of teens who do not otherwise go online say they access the internet on their cell phone.
* 41% of teens from households earning less than $30,000 annually say they go online with their cell phone. Only 70% of teens in this income category have a computer in the home, compared with 92% of families from households that earn more.
* 44% of black teens and 35% of Hispanic teens use their cell phones to go online, compared with 21% of white teens.

Cell phones are seen as a mixed blessing. Parents and teens say phones make their lives safer and more convenient. Yet both also cite new tensions connected to cell phone use.

HOW TEENS USE THEIR PHONES
Cell phones are not just about calling or texting — with expanding functionality, phones have become multimedia recording devices and pocket-sized internet connected computers. Among teen cell phone owners:

Teens who have multi-purpose phones are avid users of those extra features. The most popular are taking and sharing pictures and playing music:

* 83% use their phones to take pictures.
* 64% share pictures with others.
* 60% play music on their phones.
* 46% play games on their phones.
* 32% exchange videos on their phones.
* 31% exchange instant messages on their phones.
* 27% go online for general purposes on their phones.
* 23% access social network sites on their phones.
* 21% use email on their phones.
* 11% purchase things via their phones.

UNLIMITED PLANS
Unlimited plans are tied to increases in use of the phone, while teens on “metered” plans are much more circumspect in their use of the phone.

Fully three-quarters of teen cell phone users (75%) have unlimited texting. Just 13% of teen cell phone users pay per message. Those with unlimited voice and texting plans are more likely to call others daily or more often for almost every reason we queried — to call and check in with someone, to coordinate meeting, to talk about school work or have long personal conversations. Teens with unlimited texting typically send and receive 70 texts per day, compared with 10 texts a day for teens on limited plans and five texts a day for teens who pay per message.

BOTTOM LINE
The teen segment has always pointed the way to older demographic groups being socially connected vie various channels. Texting patterns only indicate that text is the preferred method to communicate to this group of today’s consumers. They are also driving usage for their parents which will continue to help shape 35-54 year old segment.

READ MORE: Get the full Pew Internet Research Report here.