ShareThisTeens, tweens and phones -- by the numbers:
-- 75 percent of all youths ages 12-17 owned a cellphone in 2009. That's up from only 45 percent in 2004.
-- While the majority got their first cellphone at age 12 to 14, the trend is down to as young as 5- to 9-year-olds.
-- 54 percent of all teens text daily, up from 38 percent in 2008.
-- Girls typically send/receive 80 texts a day. For boys, it's 30. The typical teen sends 1,500 texts a month.
-- Perhaps that's why 75 percent of teens are on unlimited texting plans.
-- 29 percent of teen cellphone users pay for at least some of their phone costs. Among black and Hispanic teens in households with less than $30,000 in annual income, it's 63 percent.
-- 69 percent of teen cellphones are part of a family cellphone contract. Of those, 55 percent are on a plan that someone else -- usually a parent -- pays for entirely.
-- 18 percent are under pre-paid or pay-as-you-go plans.
-- 10 percent of teen users have their own individual cellphone contract.
-- By income, two-thirds of teens in households with incomes above $50,000 are on family plans. Among lower-income teens, 36 percent are on prepaid or pay-as-you-go plans.
-- Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, June-September 2009
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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