10 Fun Facts About Texting

For many of us, being apart from our phones is almost enough to cause a panic attack. The “funeral selfie” Instagram, for instance, is the ultimate testament to just how attached people are to using their mobile devices at all times. Is there such a thing as an appropriate and inappropriate time and place to use our phones? For example, when and where is text messaging appropriate, and how are people's views on cell phone etiquette changing? What else can we learn about human behavior through a closer look at these small devices? How many businesses are using texting? How does mobile messaging impact online sales? And what are the major benefits of texting for business?

Here are some fun facts you may not have known about texting:

1) Remember back when phones were these devices we spoke into? As text messaging has become more commonplace,the amount of time people spend actually talking on their phones has dropped. The average cell phone conversation was 3.13 minutes in 2007 but had dropped to 2.03 minutes two years later.

2) Many parents today are banning phone use at the dinner table. Nearly half of texters under the age of 25 think texting while eating is acceptable, compared to just over a quarter of those over 25. Almost a quarter of these younger texters say texting while using the bathroom is okay, too, while only half as many adults over 25 agree.

Is nothing sacred, you ask? Well, luckily only 6% of surveyed texters over the age of 25 considered texting during sex acceptable, but 10% of texters under 25 are apparently taking the idea of “multitasking” to a whole new level.

3) Just how many texts are these youngsters sending, you ask? Teens on average send about 10 texts per hour during the day, which is around 3,000 texts per month. Young people still haven't figured out how to text in their sleep, however.

4) Another thing about those messages the kids are sending: Sorry to break it to you, Mom and Dad, but 1 teen in 5 is “sexting.”

5) Mom and Dad shouldn't be too shocked, however, considering that 28% of parents have sent sexual messages or photos of themselves, too.

6) When it comes to texting in general (not just sexting), most English-speaking adults are pretty much up to speed, with 72% using text messaging. Broken down by ethnicity, Hispanics have the highest percent of text-savvy adults (83%). Black adults come in second at 79%, and white adults come in at 68%.

7) When young adults are taken into account, it's almost impossible to find one who doesn't text. 95% of 18 to 29 year olds are texters.

8) By the year 2009, U.S. mobile phone users were sending about 4.1 billion text messages a day. That's the equivalent of 17 messages per day for every person in the U.S. who has a data-capable phone.

9) Studies show that trying to read or write texts while doing important tasks slows down our reaction time to that of a 70 year old. Please play it safe, everyone, and put the phones away while operating machinery or driving!

10) Ever wonder why the text message was originally limited to 160 characters? That number is based on a 1985 study concluding that messages on postcards were nearly always less than 150 characters and that sentences in general were usually fewer than 160.

Cell phones may not have existed back in 1985, but these mobile devices were invented by humans, for humans. Whether they bring out the worst or best in us remains to be settled. Armed with cell phones or not, people are still people, eccentricities and all.