Texting Dominates; Adults Become Textaholics

Recent research has indicated that British adults have become “TEXTAHOLIC” as they generally communicate via texts, emails, or Facebook messages.

It has been observed that British adults have been increasingly spending a lot of time on texting rather than talking on phones. According to a research conducted by Ofcom, an average Briton sends 200 texts a month – more than double the figure in the past four years. The figure clearly signifies that texting is the most popular activity among the British adults. This mode of communication has eventually replaced other methods of communications such speaking on a mobile phone and face-to-face interactions.

It is found that over 58% of UK adults send text messages to their friends and family on a daily basis.

While comparing this figure with other modes of communications; face-to-face interaction is 49%, talking on the mobile phone is 47% whereas social networking is just 33%.

Back in 2010, 125 billion minutes were consumed in making mobile calls in UK, which have been reduced to 124 billion in 2011. On the other hand, landline usage has been dropped by 10%.

The study also indicated that British adults spent 3.3 hours in a month on social networking sites on their PCs or laptops in 2011. It was 3.1 hours in 2010.

James Thickett, Ofcom’s Director of Research said: “Over the past year there have been some major shifts in the way we communicate with each other.

“By far the most popular means of communication on a day-to-day basis is by text messaging.”

He added: “We have known for several years that the volume of calls on a landline has been falling. But for the first time ever we have seen the volume of calls on the mobile phone also declining.”

According to him, the reason behind this is the emergence of smartphones, that give people the option to interact thorough social networking sites, text messages or emails. He said that texting has become a common trend and it is expected to grow in future.

He believed that in the coming days face to face interaction and mobile calling will somehow become obsolete.

Besides that, the study also revealed the increasing amount of broadband users in the UK, which reached 20 million in 2011.