HOME |
RSS | 
What do your parents do after they want to become your Facebook friend? Why, send you a text, of course.
More at the Tumblr blog WHEN PARENTS TEXT (what’s next? When Parents Tweet?) – via MeFi
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project; Credit: NPR
If you think that your teen is spending a lot of time on his or her cell phone texting, that’s because it’s true. A new poll by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project reports that more than half of teens text daily and about a third of those send more than 100 text messages every day!
"There’s now an expectation that teens will contact each other via text, and they expect a kind of constant, frequent response," says the Pew Center’s Amanda Lenhart, one of the study’s authors.
The survey, which was conducted with scholars from the University of Michigan, finds the typical American teen sends 50 texts a day, and a sizable number send double that or more. Some teens text their parents, though most youngsters say they prefer to speak with them by phone.
This rapid rise in texting has led to confrontation as parents and schools try to control cell phone use. The report finds that parents are trying a variety of ways, from monitoring content to limiting the time of day or number of minutes children may talk or text. Many parents surveyed — 62 percent — say they’ve taken away their child’s cell phone as punishment, though Lenhart says this can backfire: Parents often give children cell phones to keep track of their whereabouts, and don’t like giving up that easy access.
At Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Maryland last week, students were tapping away on their phones before they even reached the exit doors after classes let out. Sierra Koenick, 17, said she and her friends talk about "everything."
"What’s going on, or meet me here, or something," she said. Then she added, laughing, "Usually they’re dumb texts, not even worth it."
Jennifer Ludden of NPR has the story: Link
Here’s a dubious reason why Nigeria is such a hotbed for 419 scams (or better known as the Nigerian Letter scam): people there are astonishingly creative with the written words! Take, for instance, the Nigerian love letter – or in this case, love SMS or text as explained by Andrew Walker of BBC News:
Your mobile phone beeps, you have received a text message.
It begins: “I swear, I will make sure I give you HIV…”
But it’s not an abusive threat, it’s a “romantic” text message copied from a book on sale all over Nigeria that professes to give young people the words they need to court the woman or man of their dreams.
“H is for Happiness and joy forever with an I: Incomparable love that will never V: Vanish until death do us part. I love you,” the message concludes.
With a lot of cheesy “love text” examples: Link – via emtoast
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by 
In California a 13 year old girl was able to rack up an astounding 14,528 text messages in one month. For those keeping track that’s 484 a day which breaks down to 20 an hour or 1 every three minutes, for the entire month!
