Study Reveals: More Kids Are Using Cell Phones

A survey by the Pew Internet & Life Project has concluded that more and more teens are using cell phones.

In 2004, the study found, less than half of U.S. teens aged 12 to 17 owned a cell phone, compared to 65 percent of adults. By 2008, teens owning cell phones had increased to 71 percent, versus 77 percent of adults.

The sample size of the study, however, was just 914 people in 2004, versus 2,134 respondents in 2008.

However, the cell phone wasn't the most prevalent electronic device teens owned, at least in 2008. The most popular gadget was a game console, owned by 78 percent of the respondents. Next was an iPod or other MP3 player, which just edged out the mobile phone with 74 percent. Only 60 percent of teens said they owned a PC, whether it be a desktop or notebook.

Cell-phone ownership tends to increase with age, according to the Pew report, with only 52 percent of 12- to 13-year-olds owning one. By age 17, about 82 percent of the survey's respondents owned one. But the cell phone isn't the most frequently- used communications device; that's still the landline, Pew found, with 88 percent using it versus 66 percent for cell phones.

Not surprisingly, families with more money tended to own mobile phones: 62 percent of respondents in households owning less than $30,000 owned a phone, 63 percent owned one within households earning $30,000 to $50,000, and 79 percent owned a phone within families earning more than $75,000, a statistically significant difference, Pew reported.

The most popular activity for the connected teen is sending texts; 38 percent of all teens do this on a daily basis, Pew reported. Twenty-six percent send messages daily via social networks like Facebook, while 24 percent use instant messaging on a daily basis. Twenty-nine percent, by contrast, spend time with their friends in person.

Again, however, the frequency by which teens perform these activities varies by age; more than 70 percent of 17-year-olds talk with their friends via cell phone on a daily basis, versus 28 percent of 12-year-olds. That also holds true for texting, as 51 percent of teens aged 15 to 17 text daily, versus a quarter of teens aged 12 to 14.

Interestingly, girls are the more frequent texters, 42 percent to 34 percent for boys, the study found.

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