Huckleberries Online

Teens Average 2000 Texts Per Month

Posted by DFO

Dec. 15, 2009 5:34 p.m. • 9 comments

Americans punched out more than 110 billion text messages in December 2008, double the number in the last month of 2007, as the shorthand communication becomes a popular alternative to cell phone calls. The nation’s 270 million cell phone subscribers each sent out an average of 407 text messages in December 2008, according to government statistics released Tuesday by the Census Bureau. That’s more than double the 188 messages sent by the average cell subscriber during the same period in 2007/Associated Press. More here.

Question: How often do you text?

Nine comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Stickman on December 15 at 5:38 p.m.
Never have and wouldn’t know how. Plus, I don’t even have such a phone that could do all of those things, and I’m glad.
Cindy_H on December 15 at 6:23 p.m.
i. do. nt. txt.
jazzyvandal on December 15 at 8:37 p.m.
I hate texting and I’m young…too time consuming and I’d rather talk to someone.
spokelooneh on December 15 at 9:45 p.m.
“too time consuming and I’d rather talk to someone. “
-jazzyvandal

Exactly.
Phaedrus on December 15 at 10:10 p.m.
All the time, very efficient and can be done from almost anywhere.
Phaedrus on December 15 at 10:11 p.m.
BTW, I can’t keep up with teens, I average just about 600 texts per month.
hhuseland on December 15 at 10:21 p.m.
Once again I have been reminded of how old and out of touch I am. I learned to type on a manual Royal in high school. I used all ten fingers and still couldn’t get it right. Now they are using just two thumbs and use code. Perhaps it is time for print journalism to perish. Can you feature a reporter texting a story to an editor? Actually, my editor sometimes thinks that is what I have done, but then he went to college.
moscow_minidoka on December 16 at 7:30 a.m.
I hate to join the chorus, but I don’t text at all. I used to text maybe five or six times a day, just with my wife, but we got rid of our cell phones a year and a half ago and went back to having only a landline.

That was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. Suddenly, no one demands that we be “on call” all the time anymore, or leaves irritating messages like “where are you guys? why aren’t you answering your cell?” Now, they just assume that we’re not home when we don’t pick up the phone.

It’s wonderful getting some peace and quiet and privacy back. Yes, cell phones are convenient, but I love not having one anymore.
Norther on December 16 at 10:24 a.m.
I text my kid and my wife about 700 times per month. I use it mainly for people I really don’t want to have a conversation with. You know…the ones you get along with, but for short doses.

Texting works well for that. Very efficient and to the point. No flubber-jubber…just the info I need to pass along.

I don’t use the code stuff though. My phone has a qwerty keyboard and spellcheck, so I just type out what I need.

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About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.