Teenager sends 14,500 SMS's in a month!

[mcsqueegy]

Isn't this sad?? 14,528 texts in a month, or 480 per day. What's your opinion on this matter??

 

[McLaren]

That's exactly where the companies hate it when teens get that unlimited text.

 

[niky]

Have thirty or forty "friends", a "Send-to-All" option. Send just a dozen messages a day... it's easy.

I have relatives who are like that. I sometimes get up to five to six "spam" SMSs per day from them... if I hear my wife's phone go off just a few seconds after mine, I know enough to just erase the message right away...

 

[nk4e]

Not enough" Hiya my bff jill?" I believe? Go Cricket! and unlimited texting!

She said her texting had skyrocketed because she was bored on winter break and admitted to sending a bunch of messages to brag about her enormous effort.

The student has since been banned from sending SMS after dinner.

 

[Stevisiov]

Am I sexist?

I was 95% certain the teenager in question was female.

...and I was right.

That's really excessive usage but its not really for me to decide how many sms somenone should send per month.

For reference I send 500-1000 messages per month, 90% of those are sent to my girlfriend. If i go back to being single I might as well get rid of my contract.

 

[Bram Turismo]

500 a month? Wow, that's still a large amount for me... I almost never send more than 2-3 per day, if not only 1 a day to my girlfriend. I see the others everyday at school, why bothering to text message them?

On topic though; 480 a day? Damn, never seen a number like that. If it weren't for a free text messaging contract, good luck with paying those bills!

 

[Turbo Lag]

I could sometimes go for a month without a text. I really do think the teen did it for popularity like it said in the article.

 

[Mark T]

I wonder how many of those messages were spam. You know the kind where it says "if you don't forward this message your cat will eat your heart in three days".

I top up £10 a month with o2 and get 300 free texts which go slightly over.

 

[homeforsummer]

I probably text in the region of 300 in a month, because that's how many free ones I'm allowed and I rarely go over

 

[BayConRong]

wow I barely use the thing. I got unlimited too but I only text like maybe 5 messages at most a day. I usually don't even use it.

 

[boiltheocean]

Isn't this sad?? 14,528 texts in a month, or 480 per day. What's your opinion on this matter??

Imagine the RSI on her fingers! 480 a day is really really sad.

 

[TheCracker]

Imagine the RSI on her fingers! 480 a day is really really sad.

That's a likely 30 texts per hour average if she sleeps 8 hours a day. I doubt l
manage many more than that in a month!

 

[Pupik]

Am I sexist?

I was 95% certain the teenager in question was female.

If it weren't for women and communication devices, I'd never have time for video games.

 

[Gil]

Thankfully we have unlimited texting.
Of my six kids, I have 2 that send thousands (up to 5,000 or so) of texts in a month.
Albeit a lot of them are one worders. Hell, I get several one worders daily from my wife to ask where I am (Marco?). How long will I be doing what I'm doing (Status?). Agreement or acknowledgement of what I've said previously (K or Ok).

While calling their friends that are on the same network is free, with texting being unlimited they can communicate with their friends that have different cell carriers, without using their precious call minutes. As they believe that they are sharing 500 minutes between three of them, texting makes sense for them.

I personally send around a thousand to 1500 in a billing cycle (I've currently sent just over 800, and there are 7 days left in the billing cycle). So that's about 30-50 a day.
I do, frequently, have entire conversations via text.

AS far as RSI, I bet that in order to send that many messages in a day the child in question sends a load of one word texts and uses mostly txtspk.

 

[Stevisiov]

Glad to see its not just the young'uns that text prolifically

 

[Duke]

Hell, I get several one worders daily from my wife to ask where I am (Marco?).

As they believe that they are sharing 500 minutes between three of them...

My two teenage daughters send anywhere from 500-1000 per month. My wife and I between us send a couple hundred (mostly, in fact, between us). My wife's friend's teenage son sends around 3000 a month.

 

[Danoff]

I think I may be the last person on the planet who doesn't text, and doesn't see the point.

 

[Duke]

It's great for locating each other during trips to the mall or Home Depot or other big places. It's also a great way to carry on a private conversation between two people at work, which keeps private info off the company email or browsing history.

 

[buickgnx88]

Well texting is nice for the times when it would be rude to be talking on the phone (in class, on the bus/airplane/train, in a group of friends) or when it's too loud to talk to someone on the phone (sporting event, windy, traffic, etc.). Of course that's not to say texting is perfectly acceptable in all situations where talking isn't. For example, on a date with someone I wouldn't want them texting or talking.

 

[Danoff]

It's great for locating each other during trips to the mall or Home Depot or other big places.

Ah. We don't usually split up (no kids).

It's also a great way to carry on a private conversation between two people at work, which keeps private info off the company email or browsing history.

I walk outside to make the call. We have a designated area for smoking just outside of my office. It's usually more populated with people making phone calls than smoking.

 

[Mark T]

I think I may be the last person on the planet who doesn't text, and doesn't see the point.

I use it at work to send repair orders to engineers as they never have a pen and paper handy. It's also useful for organising events between friends especially with the mass send option.

 

[Famine]

I think I may be the last person on the planet who doesn't text, and doesn't see the point.

Join the club.

Though it has to be said that I do occasionally text when MC has gone somewhere or to see if my brother is actually available to call (he works odd shift patterns). But I barely own a mobile phone - I don't really see the point of those either since I'm either at home (where I can be contacted on the landline) or out (and don't want to be interrupted from whatever it is I'm doing out). I think I've made no calls and about 30 texts in the last 12 months.

 

[Danoff]

Join the club.

Though it has to be said that I do occasionally text when MC has gone somewhere or to see if my brother is actually available to call (he works odd shift patterns). But I barely own a mobile phone - I don't really see the point of those either since I'm either at home (where I can be contacted on the landline) or out (and don't want to be interrupted from whatever it is I'm doing out). I think I've made no calls and about 30 texts in the last 12 months.

Aside from emergencies and travel, I'm not sure I really care about having the cell phone either. I can be contacted at work easily enough on one of the 3 instant message accounts I'm perpetually logged into. Or I could be contacted at home on a landline if I had a reasonable one.

But if I'm on the side of the road with a busted car, I'm going to be very happy I have the cell phone. Also, it's handy for last minute timing (I'll be there in 5 minutes as opposed to, I'll be there somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes from now).

 

[bergauk]

I exist without texting mainly because I'm usually at the computer all day, aside from when I'm not I can usually be reached through my cell phone. I'm probably the opposite of the girl as I spend about 30-40 hours a month on the phone. But anybody that knows me knows that they can get ahold of me via the computer or the phone. But that really is insane. I cannot imagine why you'd need to send that many texts.

 

[Famine]

But if I'm on the side of the road with a busted car, I'm going to be very happy I have the cell phone.

I bought a Mazda instead

 

[Stevisiov]

Texting is great on the basis that you can contact anyone at anytime anywhere (so to speak). If I am am on the bus and I need (or want) to contact someone my only real option is my phone, I could call but calling is more expensive not only that there is a good chance they are in a lecture, driving or in any other sort of situation where they cannot take me call. I will either have to then try and ring them back or wait for them to ring me back, at which point I may no longer be available. So if I send them a text they can get my message and respond as soon as they are available, which in turn I can then read there reply as soon as I am available, no two people need to be available at one time.

Since I don't work in an office and indeed are in college the only way to contact me during a large proportion of the day is via my moblie phone which I have on me or in my vicinity pretty much all of the time. So there's a good change that I will me able to respond to anyone who wants me within minutes (even slyly in a lecture ) something I couldn't do via talking.

That's the main upside. I would use my computer to contact people if I carries a computer everywhere and had it on all the time, it would also require my friends to do the same if I wanted it to work also unless they all have 3g phones. Since most of my friends don't have 3g phones then that rules out the computer as a quick and reliable way of contacting someone for me.

Since inevitably we all have different timetables one I often send bulk messages to friends asking if any one wants to go for any food at 'insert cafe/fast food/canteen here' since I don't know who's free or interested at anyone time I will just send a bulk message to the usual suspects who'd like to join me, that way I don't have to phone loads of different people to find out who wants to join me. One generic message sent to about 12 people in seconds, and replies are usually back within the minute. Without phones we would have to organise a place to meet and wait for people to either turn up up not turn up and if somones running late at the meeting place without being able to contact the others they would simply be left behind, I guess you could say texting streamlines my student life, without my phone things would certainly be different, I guess it shouldn't be too hard to see why so many teenagers become dependant on their phones.

 

[stumpydino]

i have always favoured genuine socialising
i guess the girl just has to make up for not being an interesting person

 

[Zrow]

I don't use texting for idle chat, but sometimes I'd like for someone to know something without all that goes into making a phone call: going outside, waiting for them to pick up, "Hello, hello, hey just wanted to tell you this, okay take care, bye bye, bye bye", etc. And all I wanted to tell them was not to forget the beer.

A 15 second text of "don't forget the beer" is quick, simple, and they don't even really have to respond.

 

[boiltheocean]

I only use texting for simple messages that never really require a response. I hardly call people either.

 

[Philly]

I fail to see where the big deal lies...

My best friend was sending 15,000 a month for a while and there was a while where I was sending 10,000 a month no problem. And I'm sure my ex is up there too with the rate she was on AIM before she got unlimited.

I guess it's just the best way to keep in touch with good friends when you're away from them for a long time, or a way to be "with" them when you're not in the area or doing different things. I'm sure it's what keeps my best friend and I best friends when we're on opposite sides of the country 7 months out of the year.