Texting is winning the hearts, minds and thumbs of teenagers. Texting rules!

That’s what a new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project tells us.

Texting has overtaken phone calls, instant messaging (shocking, but true) and social networking (also shocking, but true).

The study says girls usually send 80 texts per day.

Boys typically send 30 texts per day. They don’t punctuate. Not shocking and true.

This is a significant development in tech—it will be interesting to see what the previously dominant forms can do to win back teenagers. It may be that they cannot.

One health note. Texting is so “seamlessly” part of their lives, many teenagers text while driving. This story says, as have others, that texting and driving ups the odds of being in a car accident.

If you have a teenager, work hard on making sure that they understand this.

This now is comparable to adults walking down the street, utterly unaware of those around them who are hearing, “You tell that SOB we are not settling for less than…” “What do you mean he dumped you? You didn’t dump him?” “Honey, honey…mommy needs you to go get daddy. Don’t hang up…Honey?” None of us should be hearing any of these calls but adult attachment to cell phones is comparable to teen-texting. Adults have ceased to think that there is any time or place they shouldn’t have their all-important call.

Therefore, why should we be surprised teens have found their seamless communications method?

Theirs is quieter, at least.

Daily Tech

…“A new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project has looked for insights into teen culture and specifically the prevalence of texting.

“According to the study, texting among the teen population in the U.S. has grown dramatically since 2008. Texting has now surpassed phone calls, IM, and social networking for communication between teens. The study found that a full 3/4 of teens from 12 to 17 own cell phones today and that girls in the group typically send 80 texts per day and boys typically send 30 texts per day.

“Study researcher Amanda Lenhart said, “Texting is now the central hub of communication in the lives of teens today, and it has really skyrocketed in the last 18 months.” She continued saying, “We’ve kind of hit a tipping point where now teens expect other teens to respond to text messaging and to be available. There is definitely an element of text messaging that fits so seamlessly into their lives.“ (Emphasis added)

Source: Daily Tech, April 20, 2010

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project, Teens and Mobile Phones study, April 20, 2010