Teens, Cell phones and Texting

Yesterday, the Pew Internet & American Life Project released a report on "Teens, Cell phones and Texting".

Some major findings are shown graphically here and on that site:

--75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones, up from 45% in 2004.

--More than half of teens (54%) are daily texters.

--Fully two-thirds of teen texters say they are more likely to use their cell phones to text their friends than talk to them to them by cell phone.

There is an entire chapter in the new report which deals with cell phone regulation by parents and schools.

--As we know, teens overwhelmingly bring their cell phones to school. In this survey, 77% said they do and the number is only slightly less (65%) for schools where cell phones are not allowed.

--31% of teens who take their phones to school send text messages every day during class time.

I wish that Pew had probed more deeply about how educators are integrating cell phones in their classes. Maybe that will be part of a future study.