The Kids Are Texting a Frightening Amount
The Kids Are Texting a Frightening Amount
It goes without saying that texting is startlingly popular—but what does popular even mean? Mashable has an infographic illustrating who’s texting the most (hint: teen girls), where, and how far we’ve come since the advent of the SMS. [Mashable]
Send an email to Sam Biddle, the author of this post, at sbiddle@gizmodo.com.
Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.How do the people surveyed text so much?
I only send out, like, one to two texts per day, maybe spiking at like 10 or 15 if I get in a discussion with someone (and that’s pretty rare).
Usually I only text to quickly cooridinate plans (eg; “are you at the mall yet?”, “Do you wanna see Harry Potter or Step Brothers?”, “Okay, starts at 5:45, I got your ticket” “can you give me a ride back?”). If I wanna just talk, I either use the phone, or the much cheaper IM services that are present in nearly every cellphone or computer (and works between both!) these days. Reply
Being a girl, I’d like to say that’s BS!! … I’d like to, but I guess this means I have no friends..! ReplyFiskFisk33 approved this commentTexting. Well, all this new technology was bound to have a downside.I can’t wait for a new invention that will make slow and spelling-error-prone keyboard-based-communication a way of the past. Maybe even something that uses our vocal speech? Then we can finally express sarcasm as intended! A man can dream… Reply
How can teen girls have so much to say? What are they talking about exactly? What life experience do they have to back up these “Conversations”, or is it all just one liners?I’m really freaking curious.
I am surrounded by women at work, and no offense to any women out there, but these ladies I deal with at work talk about the silliest things, its just idle chatter non stop.
Everyone knows what white noise is right? Well that’s what it sounds like to me. Now these area all old women I deal with. There married, have kids, or had kids… but there conversations are not all that meaningful.
Now, what can a freaking kid have to talk about that would require hundreds of text?
Anyways, nothing wrong with fun conversations. It’s just this surveys results overwhelm me a bit. Reply
wow, the US is at the bottom of the heap?Probably one time it’s not that bad being at the bottom! Reply
TranquilNight promoted this commentI take it that I’m weird if I’m a 17 year old guy who has sent 3 text messages.. ever? ReplyTranquilNight promoted this commentiAmWillJ approved this commentHell, I avg 2 a week.My Monday txt: “Meet you at the bar at 5:00.”
My Friday txt: “Up for some COD?”
/ok, upon reflection, it’s probalby up to 5 or 6 a week, given replies to my usual. Reply
Cell phone owners who admit to texting while driving, why is there a 14-17 year old category?Considering most teens cant drive until they’re 16 anyway and then probably another year until they drive alone (unless you let your kid text while driving in which case they deserve to crash)
What I’m saying is I bet that statistic which I’m guessing was only categorized that way to reflect high school age is really dumb. It should have just been something like “Licensed drivers who admit to texting while driving” Reply
“For about $40, parents can […] disable a phone’s texting and internet functions when the phone’s owner is traveling at 10MPH or faster”Oh god. These parental controls are getting out of hand. Reply
100 texts per day?! At say 2 minutes to read a text and reply to it that’s over 3 hours of texting. Now I procrastinate on the internet a lot but 12.5% of the day just texting is worrying. I’d be surprised if I send 5-10 texts per day, I’m a sociable 20 year old but I use texts to arrange meeting people to talk to the face-to-face (shock horror). If you need to say that much, just send an email or talk, its faster and more efficient! ReplyDave J. promoted this comment“i’m bored”“me too”
“what are you doing?”
“nothing”
“me too”
“whare are you doing later?
“nothing”
“me too”
“texting is great, huh?
“meh” Reply
The frightening thing is that these kids will grow up with the majority of their communication executed with no regard for proper spelling for grammar. Writing will become a lost art. Replytexting is more conducive to multitasking which fits with our more ADD oriented society ReplyFriedPeeps promoted this commentMy middle daughter is by far my family’s most prolific texter. 13k to 20k a month depending on whether school is in session or not (more during the summer). Older daughter (19) is in the 4k range. Youngest daughter (12) is in the 8k range. Wife and I are less than 1k. We text more than call because my wife can’t talk on the phone while she’s working. ReplyWas with Verizon with unlimited and never really counted until I decided to switch to the iPhone. Chose 1500 to safe 5 bucks thinking it was surely enough… guess what? I’m getting awfully close and considering bumping up to unlimited. Damn my popular social life… well actually it’s pretty much just one person… and she’s hot. Oh yeah.Oh and I find it slightly disturbing to be in the same category as my parents and grandparents. Reply
Texting, as shown in the image, is fast becoming the number one way of communication. Seeing this is pretty troubling for us as human beings. Of course it is a great opportunity for businesses, and some will argue that it permits faster communication (although I prefer talking for 20 seconds than sending 10 texts to say the same thing!), but is this really something positive for people’s relationships? Will deep relationships benefit from this or just dwindle away?
These “social” technologies definitely help you keep in touch a lot easier when you can’t see the person. Texting is great in those cases, but it stops being great when you are texting when you could be socializing with that person face to face. This is a really hot topic to talk about. You can argue against texting and mention emotional and social intelligence, or be in favor of it and mention the practical side of it. Which side are you on?
At least there is one thing all of us can agree on: 100 texts/day is too damn much!
