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At the risk of dating ourselves, we'll admit that we didn't get our first cell phones until we could already drive a car. As for text messages, those came even later than did the mobile phone. That's probably why this recent Nielsen report on kids and texting left us with our mouths agape. According to data from about 40,000 mobile phone bills, kids under 12 years old send, on average, 1,146 text messages a month. That translates to about four messages sent for each waking hour. If you bring in teenagers, aged 13 to 17, the numbers jump to 3,146 messages a month, or about 10 messages an hour.What does all this mean? Well, it means parents might want to consider talking with their kids about their texting habits. But it's also not great news for American cell phone service providers. Why? Well, these kids are sending plenty of text messages, but they're doing it for practically nothing. Looking at the Nielsen data, only a very small percentage of people use the pay-as-you-text method, which costs about $0.20 per message. Instead, they purchase plans that cost $10 or $20 a month and thus lower the cost of sending a message to about $0.01. It's like paying for a magazine subscription at a huge discount in lieu of purchasing each issue at a newsstand. You'll pay a large chunk on the front end, but it saves money in the long term.
Now, we're not old fogeys, and we do send our fair share of texts these days, but what could a kid younger than 12 years old possibly need to say in a text message? "Will u brng a xtra choc chip cookie 2 lunch 2mrw?" [From: Nielsen]
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Comments
42
Subscribe to commentsthelonious_XFeb 1st 2010 1:09PM
I cant speak for most people my age since they already have kids and i dont...but by the time I do, being a techgeek myself...I wouldnt buy them shit and tell them if they wanted it they had to make it...this way I save money and they are busy. as for my friends kids...well most of them will be spoiled and handed everything. I work retail, i see enough kids with cell phones that shouldnt have one, 9 times out of 10 they are completely disrespectful to their parents. When I was in high school, I worked. I didnt buy my first phone and plan until I was 18. technology wise our kids will blow dust in our faces though, my 16 yr old kid brother built his first computer when he was 14 among other out of the box things most idiots his age do. Oh and parents giving their kids a cell phone the same time they get a car....when they wreck..its your fault. good job.
teacherUFeb 6th 2010 1:04AM
Thank you, Shannon, for sticking up for "kids nowadays". I am a teacher and have been for the last 20 years. Instead of fighting the new technologies, shorter attention spans, and different ways of learning and thinking, I incorporate it into their learning. Very few of my teachers accommodated my obsession with KODAK Disc camera or my shiny tape recorder, and perhaps yours (that is, anyone reading this) teachers didn't either. But maybe they should have.
Just because it's different and YOU didn't need it when you were a kid (or now), doesn't mean it's wrong. Our years and experiences do not necessarily make us better or right. In fact, from what I've seen on this message board, the opposite it true. "Kids nowadays" are far more open-minded and respectful than most of those who have posted here.