The Psychology of Texting

Posted by on Jul 19, 2012 in Mobile Industry Trends, Social Media | 0 comments

An interesting study called the “Psychology of SMS” has provided some interesting statistics on SMS usage.

Gender

  • Males: On average, males send more texts than females, and they text with approximately 17 different contacts
  • Females: Females on average send less texts than males, and they text with approximately 13 different contacts
  • However, males tend to send shorter texts because they tend to use it to communicate quickly without getting into a conversation
Age
  • 94% of 18-35 year olds on average send 19 texts/day (133 texts/week) — over two times more than the other age groups
  • 55% of the texts 55+ year olds send are to their family
  • 19% of the texts people under 25 years old send are to their family (versus 45% to their friends)

92% of smartphone users prefer texting over IM or social networking

  • 69% of smartphone users said they would feel lost without texting
  • Smartphone users said their preference was due to a higher level of reliability (a message sent over a social network has more technological hurdles to overcome in comparison to texting)
  • People prefer easy and reliable methods to completing tasks. Texting required the least possible effort, feels more immediate than IMing, and has been the most reliable method so far.

Reference

The Drum. (2012, July 18). ’Psychology of SMS’ research shows 92% of smartphone users still prefer text over IM and social networking. Retrieved from http://www.thedrum.co.uk/news/2012/07/18/psychology-sms-research-shows-92-smartphone-users-still-prefer-text-over-im-and

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