High school girls exchange 100 text messages daily, study says

The percentage of Americans age 12 to 17 who use text messaging to contact friends daily reached 54 percent last year, double the figure in 2006, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which released its study yesterday. The growth rate outpaced the increase in use of e-mail and wireless calls.

Girls ages 14 to 17 were the most active text messengers, according to the study, which surveyed 800 teenagers and their parents between June 26 and Sept. 24. Their 100-message-a-day rate was double the level of all teenagers.

The surging use of text messages bodes well for mobile- phone makers because teenagers tend to become reliant on their wireless devices without realizing it, said Scott Campbell, one of the study’s coauthors. Texting teens are 42 percent more likely to leave their phones on or near their beds when they go to sleep than those that don’t send texts, the study found.

“They say that if a friend texts them in the night they want to wake up and answer it,’’ said Campbell, an assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan. “Nothing really seems to bother them about their dependence on the technology.’’