# Do you text?



## DCBluesman (Oct 14, 2010)

According to Neilsen Co. the average 13- to 17-year-old sends and receives a whopping 3,339 text messages a month.


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## ThomJ (Oct 14, 2010)

Darn, I have enough trouble just making a call on that cell phone


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## Scott (Oct 14, 2010)

Yes!  I text a lot!  Quite a lot in fact, sometimes as much as 3 or 4 times per day!!!   ;-)

Scott.


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## Buzzzz4 (Oct 14, 2010)

Too much. I think I have texting thumb.


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## lazyguy (Oct 14, 2010)

While for most of the time I would prefer texting as it allows communication to continue asynchronously. It is a lot more convenient than playing VM tag. But to the excess that survey indicates seems highlight the diconnect many youth have with the world around them, their head buried in their electronics on mindless chatter.


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## sptfr43 (Oct 14, 2010)

I used to make fun of my kids all the time. Couldn't understand why they wouldn't just call and be done with it. I started texting myself and now I would rather do that than use the phone. it is much more convenient to send a thought and I can get back to it when I have the chance. Now I am up to 3000 a month. Whooda thunk? Now my kids make fun of ME!


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## Toni (Oct 14, 2010)

My oldest, 16 can text faster than I can type and I can type 160 words a minute (w/mistakes).  When ever I need to text a friend something longer than 'yes' or 'no' I get him to do it, I can not be bothered trying to text!

cell phones in New Zealand are used for texting as it is tooo expensive to call someone on the cell phone or telephone.


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## Russianwolf (Oct 14, 2010)

I had to fight for a phone without a frickin' keyboard on it. I tried my wife's phone and was double punching numbers. 

Needless to say, I don't text. (I rarely use my cell for anything other than letting my wife know where I am on the train).


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## wolftat (Oct 14, 2010)

No and I have it shut off so I can't receive them either, if someone wants to talk to me, they are going to have to actually talk to me.


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## Glenn McCullough (Oct 14, 2010)

I text, but only a couple times a week, usually with my daughter. Anyone else, I call...


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## Monty (Oct 14, 2010)

In a word -----NO


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## HSTurning (Oct 14, 2010)

Yes about 3 or 4 times a month.  Most of the time it is a response to a text and its the same 2 words all the time.

"CALL ME"


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## Lenny (Oct 14, 2010)

Yes .... 5 or 6 times a year!


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## Chuck Key (Oct 14, 2010)

Yes, people do not answer there phones anymore.  Takes too much time to communicate by voice.  If you need an answer fast use text.

Chuckie


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## Smitty37 (Oct 14, 2010)

*NO! NO!! NO!!!*

Not on your life....I refuse to be a slave to a telephone, cell phone or anyother electronic device. I have a cell phone, in case I need to make an emergency call...no one calls me on it. When I am away from the house I don't want to call or be called, by anyone for any reason. I have an answer machine on my home phone, that's enough.  My advice to textors....GET A LIFE


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## tbroye (Oct 14, 2010)

I am 68 so I use smoke signals, semaphore, or telegraph.  Gave up the soup cans and the string as the ball of string got to heavy.

I use a prepaid cell phone the $50 worth of minuets last 1 year. I do use my email on my 2 computers though.


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## nava1uni (Oct 14, 2010)

Yes, for work and to stay in touch with my daughters.  They can't talk on the phone at work or doing school.  I can leave messages about pick up, they leave me messages about not coming home.  Not as much as my daughters.


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## Dudley Young (Oct 14, 2010)

I only text when i'm driving.


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## gketell (Oct 14, 2010)

Mostly only to the kids:  "where are you?" "you're late!" "hurry up"  That sort of thing.

My 15 year old easily does 4000 txts per month.  3500 of them to his girl friend.  And I have his phone shut down during school hours and 11pm-6am.


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## johnnycnc (Oct 14, 2010)

I do on rare occasion, but do not prefer to.
Life is full of so many other things to do.


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## GoodTurns (Oct 14, 2010)

gketell said:


> Mostly only to the kids:  "where are you?" "you're late!" "hurry up"  That sort of thing.



what he said... you gotta speak their language!  Outside of the kid letting me know he has arrived at school, about 5 texts a week for me!


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## bobleibo (Oct 14, 2010)

DCBluesman said:


> According to Neilsen Co. the average 13- to 17-year-old sends and receives a whopping 3,339 text messages a month.


 
Ha! Ha! 3,339 would be a slow month for my daughter, the texting Queen of the Western Hemisphere. I once asked her if she ever actually picked up the phone and said hello to her friends. "Dad, no one does that any more. Get with it!". She can actually text without looking and does so underneath the dinner table since I won't let her bring her phone (although the constant clicking is a dead give away). 
Gotta' admit, I text quite a bit....if ya' can't beat 'em, join 'em I guess. Now I have to figure out all those abreviations. 
TTYL


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## Chuck Key (Oct 14, 2010)

Smitty37 said:


> no one calls me on it.
> 
> I have an answer machine on my home phone,
> 
> My advice to textors....GET A LIFE


 
What is a home phone?  I only have one phone a cell.

Chuckie


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## ThomJ (Oct 14, 2010)

When my dog starts texting, then I'll do it


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## maxwell_smart007 (Oct 14, 2010)

I don't use a cell phone, let alone text.  If someone wants to talk to me, they can either find me and speak face-to-face, or leave a message at my home.  

I hate the telephone too much to ever want to carry one around with me.  

Andrew


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## el_d (Oct 14, 2010)

My kids arn't allowed to have their own phone till they can pay the extra charge themselves. Once my daughter got her first job she opted for the unlimited texts. She said she was going to probably be texting ALOT. Understatement of the year!!

 Her first month she logged over 11,000 texts. It has cut back since the since but that wasnt the highest text month for her. Not a big deal for me. It bothers me more how they are loosing there spelling and verbal skills. 

 I resisted texting at first but figuered I would like to be able to keep up with as much technology as I could, I dont want to be calling my kids to teach me how to turn the channel on my TV, or the way tech going, show me how to flush the toilet with the remote.

 Texting is MUCH easier on the iphone though.


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## arw01 (Oct 14, 2010)

last time we checked it was over 12,000 one month.  They don't break down sent and received.

Now someone said they shut down their sons' phone certain hours, is that with the carrier's website or something you do at home?

With google voice you can text from your laptop very easily.


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## gketell (Oct 14, 2010)

arw01 said:


> Now someone said they shut down their sons' phone certain hours, is that with the carrier's website or something you do at home?



That was me.  We are stuck with AT&T as our carrier but the good thing is they do have "smart limits" that you can set for a fee.  $5/month extra you can set "phone no worky" hours, blocked numbers, always allowed numbers, texting limits, download limits, content restrictions, etc.  

The iPhone has some child controls too.  Application restrictions; content filters; purchasing restrictions; etc.  Sadly no time-of-day controls.


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## JimMc7 (Oct 14, 2010)

Total for my niece last month was ~20,000. The thing that baffles me is she is shy to a fault (even around her friends) and I can't imagine what she & her friends are discussing that warrants 20,000 texts! Suppose it could be best that I don't know the content . I know how to type, but I get frustrated entering more than 4 or 5 words on a phone pad.


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## Rick_G (Oct 14, 2010)

No don't even own a cell phone.  I don't even answer the phone if I am doing anything else.  My theory is if it is important they will call back, if not they shouldn't have called when I wasn't waiting for the phone to ring.


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## Padre (Oct 14, 2010)

Rarely, maybe 10 times a year or so.


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## Penl8the (Oct 14, 2010)

DCBluesman said:


> According to Neilsen Co. the average 13- to  17-year-old sends and receives a whopping 3,339 text messages a month.



Let's do the math here:

3339 send & received text messages a month

3339/30 = 111.3 messages a day (assuming 30 days/month)
111.3 / 16 = 6.96 messages per hour (assuming 16 waking hours)
60 / 7 = every 8.57 minutes they would send or receive a text message



JimMc7 said:


> Total for my niece last month was ~20,000. The thing that baffles me is she is shy to a fault (even around her friends) and I can't imagine what she & her friends are discussing that warrants 20,000 texts! Suppose it could be best that I don't know the content . I know how to type, but I get frustrated entering more than 4 or 5 words on a phone pad.



And as for you niece ... 20,000 text messages a month ... for every 86 seconds she would send or receive a message.  That is phenomenal!!!


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## Mark (Oct 14, 2010)

No text for me. I love technology, but I had the ability removed from all three of our phones. No text, no email. Nothing but phone calls and voice mail.

I have a very good friend that lost her husband in a text related auto accident. Everyone thinks they can  drive and text at the same time.. Too many times, they find out too late that it's really not so. IMHO. No offense to those that do it. Just my $.02 worth.


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## phillywood (Oct 14, 2010)

heck, you guys didn't say the new language that is emerged by the teens as a result of testing. I don't text that much, just when the wife is meeting and cant' answer the phone. I liked it when we were trusted when we left home and went on doing what we did and never had to worry about calling in until we were finished, but those days are long gone. 
But, I tell you the positive side of the cell phone though. If I didn't have it on me in Dec. 2007 and the lady who was going to refund my daughter's driving course fee didn't call me on it when I fell off the ladder and shattered my scapula and was unconscious then I would have been gone to the other zone or been laying on the floor for hours til wife got there, since she was the one who called the ambulance. it has it's advantages, but too many people already abuse the convenience of it and they yak on it too much. Oh, BTW, they can locate you any time any where if they want to, because it has GPS on it. So don't go wild places and have the phone on you. Private investigators are looking.


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## jeff (Oct 14, 2010)

Send and received combined about 2000 a month. I guess we don't have lives, but a lot of texting goes on in the business world these days. I believe it saves me a lot of time. I can reach someone quickly with a short question and more often than not I get an answer whether they're in a meeting or in the can. I was in a meeting this afternoon texting with one of my people who was in another meeting in another building, but he had information I needed. Being able to get information during the meeting from the right person saved me from having to waste time scheduling another meeting when he was available. I also find that phone calls have a lot of socialization content along with the information you're trying to get. Texting sort of forces you to just get to the point.


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## cowchaser (Oct 14, 2010)

Both my daughters 19 and 12 run around 12000 to 14000 each a month. Thank god they both have unlimited. It's amazing I can call and they don't answer, but if i test i get an immediate reply.


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## Ligget (Oct 14, 2010)

I text approx 10 times a day, mostly to my wife and kids, both my daughters are really fast at it as they are texting their friends all through the day until late into the evening!


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## Bobalu (Oct 14, 2010)

The phone I use all day is supplied by my company, so I have to live by their rules. Rule #1 is no texting. Rule #2 is no use of cell phones while driving -- not even with handsfree device wired or wi-fi. In addition, many of my customers will not allow me to enter their plants if my phone has a camera (try and find one today that doesn't).Should I have an accident, my fault or otherwise, the first thing the company will check is my phone logs. If the logs show my cell phone was in use at the time of the accident, I will be terminated. Isn't this Hi-Tech stuff fun?


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## ssajn (Oct 14, 2010)

My grand daughters have been known to text the person sitting next to them.
I send maybe two texts a day.


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## Lenny (Oct 14, 2010)

My son is messaging me right now through AIM using his new Droid2 ... I used to be up on the technolgy until it passed my budget. :frown:


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## David Keller (Oct 14, 2010)

I'm going to check my logs to see, but I'll bet I send/recieve 20 to 30 per day.  I use it a lot for work.  I also abhor talking on the phone when I don't need to...  Texting allows me to communicate with people and avoid the idle chit-chat that makes me crazy.  It's my favorite way to communicate other than face-to-face.


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## intillzah (Oct 14, 2010)

I usually send/receive about 20/30 per week.  And I just upgraded to an new HTC Hero (Droid platform) phone here about 3 weeks ago.


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## mick (Oct 14, 2010)

Once or twice a week my son will text me from school....any other time he knows I won't reply. He has to call me.


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## AKPenTurner (Oct 15, 2010)

I'm 16. I've sent 2 text messages in my life.
I guess I'm not the average teenager...


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## cowchaser (Oct 15, 2010)

Just want to ask a question and not hijack the thread. Do you think because of today's technology that kids and adults also have lost or are losing the ability to communicate with other people face to face. 

The reason I ask is I have interviewed alot of people for jobs in the past and it seemed like the younger they were the harder it was for them to communicate and basically sale theirselves during an interview. They looked great on paper, but just couldn't put it in words in a face to face interview. I have noticed that about my own kids and have commented to my wife about it. She is an english teacher and says she see's the same thing. I have seen some of the papers she grades and kids will literally write a paper in text message slang. She hates that with a passion.


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## tbroye (Oct 15, 2010)

I wonder what medical problems all the texters will develop with their thumbs 10-20 years from now.  Look how many got Carpel Tunnel from typing.  I watch people with the dancing thumbs, I tried once but by phone doesn't have big enough keys and having CT doesn't help.


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## avbill (Oct 15, 2010)

Text How?   Well I really don't want to know                 either!


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## BigShed (Oct 15, 2010)

I try not to text at all, find it a very non-intuitive excercise.

My daughters and son are a different story however.

One night daughter #2 and her then boyfriend, now husband, were over at our house playing cards, ie a social occasion. 

During this game they were texting each other all the time, sitting approx 2 ft away from each other

I politely asked them to hand over their mobile phones (cell phones to you)!

In case you think these are teens without social skills, you're wrong, they are in their late thirties (second marriage for both)!


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## 1080Wayne (Oct 15, 2010)

A very interesting thread , with some excellent points raised . I am of the `Technology is my servant , not my master , generation .`

We are seeing the rise of a new form of addiction , which will have many of the same old associated social costs as other behaviours , with perhaps a new wrinkle or two . Time will allow us to rank it in comparison with other addictions . Unfortunately , the young are the most susceptible to falling prey to these things . 

I doubt that many of us would have foreseen the rise of a 20,000 per month habit , or of individuals 2 feet away conversing by text . The first person will be unemployable , and frankly , I wouldn`t want the other two either . The questions now are : How do we prevent more from falling into this hole ? and How do we help those who have fallen in , out ? Better heads than mine will have to answer those questions .


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## bobleibo (Oct 15, 2010)

Ha....this thread is a dead give away to our average ages !!! Never admit to being old - or at least try to fake it well. 

hand crank lathe - motorized  lathe - VS lathe - duplicator lathe

stone tablets - pen and quill - telegraph - crank phone - dial phone - push button phone - pager - cell phone - TEXTING - ?????? - I can't wait to see what's next !

Why burn the calories fighting the inevitable? Hop on the train and enjoy the ride , it's going to be a blast.


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## workinforwood (Oct 15, 2010)

" Do you text? "  ....sure...but only while driving! :biggrin:


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