When my teenage son ignores me while tapping away furiously on his cell phone, I have the consolation of knowing that he has joined the quickest-growing form of two-way communication in human history.
A decade ago, just about no one in the U.S. sent these messages, known as Short Message Service (SMS) texts. This year, we will zing out 1.2 trillion of them, predicts market-intelligence firm IDC.
That translates to a barrage of messages from each user, especially teens, who seem to be receiving new text messages — a.k.a. “blowing up” — more than they take new breaths. The average U.S. mobile teen now sends or receives an average of 2,899 text messages per month, according to Nielsen Mobile. “With teens, the act of picking up a phone and calling someone is dropping away,” notes Christopher Collins, a senior analyst with Yankee Group.
via Cell-Phone Bills: Is Text-Messaging Too Expensive? – TIME.
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