Mobile

Just an interesting, awareness-raising article that Mieke pointed out. The world is changing, isn´t it - as it has always done and will always do... Guess what the photo depicts, by the way ... Answer after the article...

Teenage girls' phone habit hits 100 messages a day

CRAYTON HARRISON

April 22, 2010

HIGH school girls typically send and receive 100 text messages a day, according to a study, which found that cheaper mobile-phone plans have boosted the technology's popularity among young people.

The percentage of Americans aged 12 to 17 who use text messaging to contact friends daily reached 54 per cent last year, double the figure in 2006, according to a study released on Tuesday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The growth rate outpaced the increase in daily use of email and wireless calls.

The surging use of text messages bodes well for mobile-phone makers because teenagers tend to become reliant on their wireless devices without realising it, said Scott Campbell, one of the study's co-authors.

Texting teens are 42 per cent more likely to leave their phones on or near their beds when they go to sleep than those that don't send texts, the study found. ''They say that if a friend texts them in the night they want to wake up and answer it,'' said Campbell, an assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan.

''Nothing really seems to bother them about their dependence on the technology.''

Three-quarters of US teenagers have mobile phones, up from 45 per cent in 2004, the researchers found. Of those with mobiles, 83 per cent use them to take pictures, 60 per cent to listen to music and 46 per cent play games.

While they were interested in Apple's iPhone, many could not afford the extra charges or get their parents to pay. Girls aged 14 to 17 were the most active text senders.

The study surveyed 800 teenagers and their parents and found their 100-message-a-day habit was double the level of all teenagers.

Answer: Bryony (one of John´s daughters) took this photo from the top of Bald Rock, where they had been camping - see earlier posts- at 5 am: they'd climbed up in the dark and cold to see the dawn, and snapped the dawn PLUS Tess using her mobile phone. Such a telling picture of the reality of our children´s lives! Beauty, nature and technology rolled into one! (observation by Mieke)