14,528 messages in a month!

[The Mike]

THIS KID'S A TEXT MANIAC
OMG! 14,528 MESSAGES IN A MONTH!
By SUSANNAH CAHALAN

A teen in California recently clocked 14,500 text messages in one month. Do you think that's a lot?
Yes, I can't imagine sending that many text messages.
That's nothing, I send more than that a month.

Last updated: 3:29 pm
January 12, 2009
Posted: 2:09 am
January 11, 2009

Greg Hardesty didn't LOL when he got his teen daughter's cellphone statement.

All he could think was "OMG!"

The California man's 13-year-old daughter, Reina, racked up an astonishing 14,528 text messages in one month. The online AT&T statement ran 440 pages.

"First, I laughed. I thought, 'That's insane, that's impossible,' " the 45-year-old dad said. "And I immediately whipped out the calculator to see if it was humanly possible."

He found it was - barely.

It works out to 484 text messages a day, or one every two minutes of every waking hour.

"Then I thought maybe AT&T made some mistake on the bill," said Hardesty, of Silverado Canyon.

The reporter for the Orange County Register grilled his daughter on her texting habit - by text message, of course.

"Who are you texting, anyway? Your entire school?" he asked.

"Well, a lot of my friends have unlimited texting. I just text them pretty much all the time," she explained.

She messages a core of "four obsessive texters" - all girls between the ages of 12 and 13 - on her LG phone.

Reina had a karaoke birthday party, and while other people were singing, she was texting her best friend sitting right next to her.

She even texted her friends to brag about the high number of text messages she had logged when her parents got the statement.

Her texting soared last month because "it was winter break and I was bored," Reina told her parents.

Luckily, Hardesty has a phone plan that allows unlimited texting for $30 a month. Otherwise, he estimates, he would have owed AT&T $2,905.60 at a rate of 20 cents per message.
The average number of monthly texts for a 13- to 17-year-old teen is 1,742, according to a Nielsen study of cellphone usage.

Hardesty admits he himself punches in 900 messages a month - 700 more than average for his age group, according to Nielsen.

Hardesty and his ex-wife have since placed restrictions on Reina's cellphone use, ruling she cannot text after dinner.

Read The OC Register's Story

 

[Jen]

Texting her best friend that was sitting next to her? That's just sad. No one is going to know how to properly communicate with anyone anymore......I find this rather sad, to be honest.

 

[Memnoch]

All I could do was laugh. I mean I text a lot, but dear GOD. How does she get away with texting during school? Most schools that even allow cell phones require them to be shut off and put away during the day.

 

[Darth Waller]

I feel sorry for her dad.

 

[Darth Madden]

Texting her best friend that was sitting next to her? That's just sad. No one is going to know how to properly communicate with anyone anymore......I find this rather sad, to be honest.

Its very sad actually. I am glad I grew up when I did. This is just out of control.

 

[El Roranous]

Don't text, don't buy that service, never will- I think it's stupid.


Even if you call me, I probably won't answer your call because I probably don't want to talk to you. I love caller ID though.

 

[The Josh]

Holy Crap! I thought some of my basketball girls were bad.

 

[El Roranous]

Why do people like to text anyway? I find it to be an arduous task. All those little buttons and such and it also bothers me to not type the full words with proper punctuation. The next generation has officially left me behind.

 

[karamazov80]

I gave up my cell phone a few years ago, and the world kept turning when I woke up the next day.

 

[Nocturne]

Once you get the hand of it, it's quite handy, I can type a fully punctuated text message on my phone (in full english) without looking at the screen. Makes a great party trick, also means I can hold my phone under the desk and sort out what I'm doing with friends

 

[barryo]

i gave up writing & reading texts when i realized that it takes up more time & minutes/money (30 seconds on my phone just to read) than it was worth. most of the text conversations that get drawn out into a 10 minute ordeal could have easily been handled in a 30 second phone call

 

[Shatterer of Dreams]

i find it easier to text people and so do most of my friends. I don't answer calls and most of my friends don't either but we all text each other right away. it's a good way to communicate with someone instantly and not have to talk to them.

I realize that that is part of the problem with todays youth not being able to communicate properly with humans but i'm in my mid 30's so i know how to balance texting and interacting with society.

 

[Nocturne]

It's the way how some of the younger people use text speak for all their written communication that really does my head in.

 

[Anzik]

My wife and I text across the room to each other if we don't want the kids to know.

 

[ProgMatinee]

I need to text the ^^^^^^^ in the cube next to me to stop dropping his mother ^^^^ing letter opener on the counter after every envelope he opens. Dip ^^^^.

 

[El Roranous]

Since I don't have a texting plan I cringe when my friends send me a text... I'm like "Don't you bastards know I'm not rich- this ^^^^ is costing me like 15 cents a pop!"

 

[The Ween]

Number of text messages I sent last month.....

ZERO!

If I want to talk to someone, I'll call them.

 

[The Mike]

But then.....you have to talk to them....

 

[The Ween]

Yeah, less work that way!

 

[Sick Boy 82]

Why do people like to text anyway? I find it to be an arduous task. All those little buttons and such and it also bothers me to not type the full words with proper punctuation. The next generation has officially left me behind.

Blackberry ^^^^^!! QWERTY keyboard FTW!!

I text cause I don't always have 2 hours to talk to someone.