By Sara Williamson, PhD.
Statistical Snapshot Texting vs Talking — That is the Question
68%
o people prefer texting over talking on the phone? Maybe you have a friend or family member who never seems to answer when you call. Americans have access to more alternatives to phone-calling than ever before, and we wondered whether the traditional phone call is becoming a thing of the past. To find out, we surveyed 704 Americans regarding their preferences. Here’s what we discovered.
When it comes to communicating with contacts in their personal life:
99%
say that they have a mobile phone
31%
17%
Only say they use it
75%
38%
who report frequent use of phone calls
31% report avoiding phone calls with those in their personal life
14
actually prefer text or email over phone calls with their personal contacts
56% say they use texting most often with romantic partners,
30%
whereas only said that calling by phone was used the most often
The popularity of texting covers all generations. It was ranked first by the following demographic groups.
59% of Millennials (24-39 years old)
Only of all respondents have a landline and
text frequently, compared to only
When asked to rank different means of communication (e.g., texting, phone calling) in order of preference:
AMERICANDEMOGRAPHICS I MAY 2020
50% of Gen Z (18-23 years old) 43% of Gen Xers (40-54 years old) 34% of Boomers (55-73 years old) The average number of texts sent among all respondents was 32 per day and increases to 50 per day among millennials. It drops to an average of 12 per day among boomers.
Who was in our sample? It was 46% female. The mean age was 37 years old with 20% of the sample being over 55 years old. The survey was conducted online among US citizens registered with Prolific survey recruitment platform.
