Monday, November 10, 2014

Texting Is Number-One Form of Communication

Texting is the dominant form of communication among Americans, according to a Gallup survey. Thirty-nine percent of Americans say they texted "a lot" yesterday—slightly larger than the 38 percent who talked a lot on a cell phone and the 37 percent who sent or read emails a lot. (Only 9 percent say they used a landline phone a lot yesterday.) Of course the 1 or 2 percentage-point difference between these three most common modes of communication are statistically insignificant, but a look at the numbers by age confirms that texting will increasingly dominate communication in the years ahead.

More than two-thirds of young adults (aged 18 to 29) say they texted a lot yesterday, far above the 50 percent who talked a lot on a cell phone or the 47 percent who sent/received emails a lot. Among people aged 30 to 49 as well, texting surpasses cell phone calls (41 percent) or emailing (44 percent). Here are the percentages who say they texted a lot yesterday by age...

Aged 18 to 29: 68%
Aged 30 to 49: 47%
Aged 50 to 64: 26%
Aged 65-plus: 8%

Source: Gallup, The New Era of Communication among Americans

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