Nielsen: Teenagers Love to Text (Duh!)

Posted 10/15/2010 at 6:48am | by Paul Lilly

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Granted it's no secret teenagers love to text, but if you want to back up that claim with some hard numbers, here you go. According to Nielsen, American teens send an average of 3,339 text messages every month. That equates to more than six texts for every hour they're awake, which is 8 percent more than it was last year.

To arrive at these figures, Nielsen combed through cell phone bills from more than 60,000 mobile subscribers, and on top of that surveyed over 3,000 teens. Predictably, Nielsen found that no one texts more than teens (13-17 years old), with female teens being the most active texters at 4,050 texts per month.

Texting has become such a prominent part of American culture that it's now the No. 1 reason for getting a phone (43 percent), same as it was in 2009 (42 percent). Coming in second is safety (35 percent), followed by keeping in touch with friends and family (34 percent and 26 percent, respectively), always being available (22 percent), and convenience (20 percent).

Jonesing for more? Texting is fast replacing voice communication. Nielsen says voice activity has decreased 14 percent a month among teens, who average 646 minutes of talk time each month.

"Only adults over 55 talk less than teens," Nielsen says.