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Young Americans send almost ten times as many texts as Americans over 55.
According to Experian, U.S. smartphone owners aged 18 to 24 send 2,022 texts per month on average — 67 texts on a daily basis — and receive another 1,831.
That's nearly double their slightly older peers, smartphone users aged 25 to 34.
That corroborates a Pew study from last year, which found that the median number of texts sent by teens was 60 per day.
While it's not particularly surprising that young Americans send more texts than their parents, their texting behavior actually has an enormous impact on the mobile ecosystem.
Texting is a big business — global carrier messaging revenues were $200 billion in 2011, according to Chetan Sharma — but it is increasingly under attack.
The Experian data likely counts iMessages sent between Apple devices as texts, although they bypass the carrier and aren't technically a SMS.
Another challenge to carriers' text revenue is from apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Kik. These all bypass the carriers and help users connect and communicate quickly through data connections. These apps are most popular among younger smartphone owners.
Messaging volumes are shooting higher than ever, but the carriers may see less of a cut.
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