Going by the statistics revealed in a new report by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project, about 50 percent of the 12-17 year olds in the US send and receive as many as 1,500 texts per month – with nearly
50 percent of the teenaged girls sending an average of about 50 text messages a day!

The report, based on a last-year-concluded telephonic survey of 800 American teens, said that while teenage boys texted an average of only around 20 messages per day; 30 percent of teenage girls sent almost 100 text messages every day.

Noting that the number of texting teens is clearly on the rise, the Pew study found that the percentage of all American teenagers texting everyday had grown from 38 percent to 54 percent during the course of the 18-month analysis, ending September 2009.

The report said that teenagers “are using mobile phones to share stories and photos. They are using them to entertain themselves when they are bored. They are using them to microcoordinate their schedules and face-to-face gather­ings. And some are using their phones to go online to browse the Web, to participate in social networks and check their e-mails.”

Digging out the “darker” aspects, the report highlighted that teenagers also use mobile phones for cheating on tests; evading rules at school and home; and sending sexts.