Take a Guess -- How Many Texts Does the Average Teen Send Each Day?

Parents paying for their teens' cellphone bill can pat themselves on the back for choosing the unlimited texting plan. If you don't have that plan, you may consider getting it as the latest stats from the Pew Research Center found that the average teen sends one text every 15 minutes they're awake. That is up to 60 texts per day.

Two years ago, the average number of texts for the 12 to 17-year-old age group was 50. Also on the rise is the number of teens using smartphones: 31 percent of those age 14 to 17 have a more sophisticated device, compared to 8 percent of 12 to 13-year-olds. Research of the 799 teens interviewed showed one in four now own a smartphone.

Not all communication on mobile devices is on the rise in this age demographic though. Pew reports seeing only 26 percent of teens talking on cellphones with friends daily, whereas 38 percent were chatting in 2009. Interestingly enough, it's not a preference of one form of communication over the other:

[...] the Pew Internet survey shows that the heaviest texters are also the heaviest talkers. The heaviest texters (those who exchange more than 100 texts a day) are much more likely than lighter texters to say that they talk on their cell phone daily.

Here's Slate's report on the statistics:

Last year, as part of its Internet & American Life Project, Pew found that texting appears to be even more popular in the 18 to 24 age group with 109.5 average texts sent per day. The average American, according to this earlier project announced Sept. 2011, sends 41.5 texts per day.

[H/T Fark]