Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

4.20.10 | There’s a monumental shift in communication culture underway, though it won’t surprise anyone who lives with or spends time with teenagers: Text messaging is now the primary way that teens reach their friends, surpassing face-to-face contact, email, instant messaging and phone calls.

That’s the latest news from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which today released the results of a survey of 800 teens (age 12 to 17) and their parents, as well as findings from focus groups of teens age 12 to 18.

In terms of overall usage, the survey found that 75 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds own cell phones, up from 45 percent in 2004. As for text messaging, 72 percent of all teens—or 88 percent of teen cell phone users—send text messages, and a majority of them do it daily.

In February 2008, 38 percent of teens sent daily text messages—that number increased to 54 percent in September 2009. By comparison, 38 percent of teens say call their friends daily on the cell phone, and 30 percent talk daily on a landline.

The survey also found that the majority of teens are (not surprisingly) texting frequently throughout the day:

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.

Older teen girls ages 14-17 lead the charge on text messaging, averaging 100 messages a day for the entire cohort. The youngest teen boys are the most resistant to texting – averaging 20 messages per day.

Other popular cell phone functions include taking photos (83 percent), exchanging pictures (64 percent) and playing music (60 percent). More than one-quarter, or 27 percent, say they use the internet from their cell phones, and 23 percent visit social networking sites.

The survey notes that 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.’”

So how are schools addressing the popularity of cell phones? A great majority of teens—62 percent—say they can bring a phone to school but are not allowed to use it in class, while nearly a quarter—24 percent—say their schools forbid cell phones altogether. Only 12 percent of teens said they can have a phone with them at school at all times.

For a look back at cell phone growth among teens, check out Pew Internet’s report on teen usage between 2004 and 2009.