[Our emphasis] Texting by American adults has increased substantially over the past year, but still does not approach the magnitude of text messages exchanged by adolescents. Some 72% of adult cell phone users send and receive text messages now, up from 65% in September 2009. Fully 87% of teen cell users text. Teens text 50 messages a day on average, five times more than the typical 10 text messages sent and received by adults per day.
Still, for most adults, voice calling is their primary use of the phone. They make and receive about 5 calls per day on average.
“Texting among adults has reached the mainstream and the charge is being lead by African-Americans, Hispanics and young adults,” said Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist and author the report. “Of course, none of these adult groups hold a candle to teens when it comes to texting, who swamp adults in messages sent per day by a factor of 5.”
+ 82% of American adults own a cell phone, Blackberry, iPhone or other device that is also a cell phone.
+ Heavy adult texters – those who send and receive more than 50 texts day -- also tend to be heavy users of voice calling. Light texters, who exchange 1 to 10 texts a day, do not make up for less texting by calling more. Instead, they are light users of both calling and texting.
+ Women tend to make slightly fewer calls with their cell phones than men – while 53% of women make and receive 5 calls or fewer per day, 43% of men say the same. Men are a bit more likely to make slightly more phone calls in a day; 26% of men send and receive 6 to 10 calls a day, while 20% of women exchange that many calls.
+ 65% of adults with cell phones say they have ever slept with their cell phone on or right next to their bed.
+ Adults who have slept with or near their phones are also more likely to feel positively about their phone. They are more likely to appreciate the way the phone helps them to make plans (94% vs. 78% of those who don’t sleep with their phone) and to see the phone as a source of entertainment (52% vs. 14%). Phone sleepers are just as likely to express irritation with the phone as those who don’t sleep near their handset.
+ African American and Hispanic cell users are more intense and frequent users of all of the phone’s capabilities than whites. Minorities send more text messages and make more calls on average than their white counterparts.
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project
+ Parents with children under 18 in the home are also keen users of the cell phone. Parents are more likely to own a cell phone than non-parents, and more likely to make 5 or more calls per day than non-parents (63% vs. 44%), though they do not text more overall. They are more likely to have slept with their phone on or near their bed, and to use the phone for talking for all types of purposes.
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