Cell phone use is up, but not like you might expect--there's less talking and more texting!

How do you use your cell phone?

A few weeks ago, A.C. Nielsen reported on how we as a country are using the cell phone--the findings are interesting.  To begin with, we've reach an important milestone:  mobile phone penetration in the population is, counting multiple unit users, almost at a 100%.  That's significant, but the interesting jutaposition to this factoid is that while there are more phones, there's actually less talking going on ever before!  

Yes, people are calling less and texting more--in some cases a great deal more, depending on your age.  In 2008--a lousy two years ago--the text versus calling stats were pretty dramatic: teens, on average, were sending 1742 text messages a month [versus 231 calls, a ratio of 7.5 texts-to-calls.  Text prevalence ranges downward on either side of the teen years, but there' plenty going one as the table shows.  

Do you know how to use a cell phone?

 These data show that adults up to 34 average over at least 10 text messages a day; over 35, the numbers drop precipitously:  45-54 year olds only average 4 texts a day, 55-64 year olds only one.  

A few days ago The Nielsen Company up-dated their reportage on cell phone use and the numbers are even more dramatic for teens:  Texting more than any other group, they average 2,779 per month--that an average of 8 messages every waking hour--that's almost 100 text messages a day!  Even seniors are up from 2008 to an average now of one per day!

Why to people text so much?

So why do people text rather than call?  Well that answer probably depends on what age group we're talking about.  I'll give you my opinion about each:

Teens: Era of staying in touch--even if there's no good reason to.  It socially "safer" to text than talk, especially to members of the opposite sex; and, too, with parents discouraging constant phone use by their teens, texting keeps everybody connected but under the radar screen.  Let's face it you can't talk just anywhere--and expect to not be overheard--so texting is in many ways superior to talking directly.  

Young adults: The flirting epoch. There's still a lot of socializing going on for these people.  At a minimum, it's easier to be "cool" texting than talking--being witty or bold is better saved for when you can plan what you communicate more deliberately.  And too, talking to some people actually spoils a good fantasy of what the other person might really be like; let's face it, when one socializes at any age, other people are frequently more intriguing when they don't talk instead of when they do--texting makes make-believe easier to sustain!

Adults and middle age: Getting very practical.  Here the objective is to communicate without needing to necessarily "interrupt" the other person--texting offers the ease to getting the answers to questions we have--without being too intrusive...or, for that matter, actually having to deal with the other person:  "When will you be home?"  "Did you pick up the laundry?"  "What's for dinner?"  "Are you going to take the kids to practice?"  This way you don't have to put the other person on the spot for an immediate answer, deal with their unpredictable attitudes, or disturb those who might be attending to other matters when you want to reach them.  In a perfect world, we hope they handle us the same way as well.  If younger users want to be involved with others by texting, this group fundamentally wants to avoid as many entanglements with the other people as possible!  

Senior citizens: What's "texting" mean?  I meet a lot of people who don't even know that a world of texting is going on all around them--they think other people are just using their cell fones to "dial" a lot!  The truth is, most of these individuals don't know how to send or receive a text message, even if their lives depended on it.  Here's the sad part:  Those who do, don't know anyone who can respond to their text messages even if they were to send one.  Frequently it comes down to this:  Most seniors who text, do so only with their grandchildren!  

I'm surprised by all the adults I talk to about texting who don't "get it."  They simply don't understand that sometimes it's the perfect way to communicate--better than ignoring somebody, but better than phoning out of the clear blue sky and testing other people's patience or attitude on a potluck basis.  And, too, texting is almost always a perfect way to deliver bad news ["Sorry I can't make it tonight." Or, "Wish you were here (that is, if only you'd been invited!)"].  Well, some bad news--it's generally in poor taste to simply text:  "Martha died."  

Would Alexander Bell and Thomas Edison text?

If you asked me, I'm pretty sure that Bell or Edison would be surprised by a lot of things about the modern cell phone--but they'd get used to texting, I'm pretty sure!  That is if they weren't too old!  

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