Poll: Teens text more than they call

WASHINGTON, March 19 (UPI) -- Texting is the dominant mode of daily communication between teens and all those with whom they communicate, a U.S. poll indicates.

The volume of texting among teens has risen from 50 texts a day in 2009 to 60 texts while frequency of teens' voice calls has fallen, the poll released Monday by the Pew Internet & American Life project indicates.

Among the teens surveyed, 63 percent said they exchange text messages every day with people in their lives.

Texting is the most common choice of daily communication, teens reported, surpassing phone calling by cell phone, 39 percent; face-to-face socializing outside of school, 35 percent; social network site messaging, 29 percent; instant messaging, 22 percent; talking on landlines, 19 percent, and e-mailing, 6 percent.

More and more teenagers have smartphones, the survey found, with 23 percent of all those ages 12-17 saying they have a smartphone.

Ownership is highest among older teens: 31 percent of those ages 14-17 have a smartphone, compared to just 8 percent of youth ages 12-13.

The poll was conducted by telephone with a sample of 799 teens ages 12 to 17 years old and their parents living in the continental United States. The margin of error was 4.8 percentage points.