We are doing background research on text messaging and specifically things involving teen texting. We first put in “text messaging statistics for teenagers” in Google and we got several links to pages with statistics involving texting in general and texting statistics for teenagers. The first page we used discusses car accident cell phone statistics for teenagers. According to the website, the majority of teen drivers ignores cell phone driving restrictions and says that texting is their number one driver distraction. Over 60 percent of American teens admit to risky driving, and nearly half of those that admit to risky driving also admit to text messaging while behind the wheel. Each year, 21 percent of fatal crashes involving teenagers between the ages of 16-19 were the result of cell phone usage and the result has been expected to grow as much as 4% every year. Furthermore, almost 50 percent of all drivers between the age of 18 and 24 are texting while driving while over one-third of all young drivers (ages 24 and under) text on the road (http://www.edgarsnyder.com/auto-accident/auto/cell/statistics.html).

Another website we used describes general texting statistics for the United States population and different general trends over the past couple years. For example, as of June 2008, over 75 billion text messages are sent every month, compared to only 18 billion text messages sent in December 2006. Thus, the number of text messages sent per month has grown by 250 percent each year for the last two years. On a similar note, the total number of U.S. messaging users has grown exponentially over the past several years. In 2003, there were only 32 million people who text messaged but that number has grown to over 92 million people who text message in 2008. A similar study showed that though the average number of calls for the typical mobile phone user has stayed about the same the past couple years (~200 calls), the number of text messages has drastically increased the past couple of years. Two years ago, the average person sent 65 texts a month but that number has overtaken the number of calls a person makes on average a month as the typical person sends approximately 357 texts a month by the end of 2008. The website also lists some general statistics about the age of text messaging users. The median age of a text message user is 38 years old with 51 percent being female and 49 percent being male (http://www.cellsigns.com/industry.shtml).

We then did another search on Google with the keywords “high school text messaging statistics” and arrived at a site with studies claiming that text messaging has a detrimental effect on teen language abilities. According to the website, some studies have shown that the language and communication abilities of today’s teens have greatly deteriorated compared to previous generations. Teenagers rely on texting abbreviations and other non-standard practices to shorten their message along with leaving out standard punctuation so they can conform to the 160 character text message limit. Causation is not assumed but another study stated by the website shows that approximately 34 percent of employers “were dissatisfied with the oral communication skills of high school graduates.” This trend may be attributed to the greater reliance on casual written communication (http://cellphones.lovetoknow.com/Texting_Statistics).

Finally, we decided to research some statistics on “sexting” because it is a prevalent phenomenon among teenagers and we typed “teenage sexting stats” in Google. According to the website (based on multiple verifiable studies), 20% of teenagers overall sent or posted nude/semi-nude pictures or videos of themselves including 22% of teen girls, 18% of teen boys, and 11% of young teen girls age 13-16. The percent of teenagers sending or posting sexually suggestive messages include 39% of all teenagers, 37% of teen girls, and 40% of teen boys. 15% of teenagers who have sent or posted nude or seminude images of themselves say they have done so to someone they knew online. 21% of teenage girls and 39% of teen boys say they have sent such content to someone they wanted to date or hook up with. 44% of both teen girls and boys say that it is common for sexually suggestive text messages and 36% of teen girls and boys say that it is common for nude/semi-nude photos to get shared with people other than the intended recipient. 51% percent of teen girls say pressure from a guy is a reason girls send sexy messages or images while only 18% of teen boys cited similar pressures from their female counterparts. 66% of teen girls and 60% of teen boys say that they did so to be “fun or flirtatious”, the most common reason for sending sexy content. Furthermore, 52% of teenage girls used sexting as a “sexy present” for their boyfriend. On the other hand, 40% of teenage girls said they sent sexually suggestive messages or images as “a joke” (http://www.pcsndreams.com/Pages/Sexting_Statistics.html).