Numbers Are In: It’s Two Thumbs up for Texting
The numbers are in, and they really should come as no surprise. When given a choice of picking up their smartphone and CALLING or picking up their smartphone and TEXTING - Americans give two thumbs up to texting over talking.
It seems as if it's getting more difficult to find someone that still communicates by using a land line. A recent study has found that 83% of adults in the United States own a cell phone. Of those adults, 73% use the texting function on their phone, and 31% of those choose text as their first choice of communicating with someone.
The Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project research revealed that the average adult in the United States receives and/or sends about 42 text messages a day. But, young adults between the ages of 18-24 have a sizable increase in that number - averaging about 110 messages a a day. That's (on average) about 3,200 text messages a month.
The research said adults that average over 50+ text messages a day, are considered to be "heavy-texters", and openly admit that they would prefer to receive a short message in a text than having to go through the hassle of a phone call. But why wouldn't someone want to have an actual conversation?
University of Miami Health Economist Michael French believes that those that choose text over talk do so because,
Sometimes with a voice conversation you can say something that you didn't mean, while with a text, you have a chance to pause.
But hard-core texters have to be careful, too. As simple as it is to just send a quick two or three line message, that text can often be misinterpreted - which could lead to a phone call later - along with someone on the other end of that smartphone demanding an explanation.
Maybe an "old-fashioned phone conversation" wouldn't be so bad every once in a while, huh?