---
title: "“When I text I can say just what I want to say:” Gender and Adolescents’ Use of Text Messaging with Peers"
description: "This symposium at SRCD's biennial meeting examines how adolescent boys and girls communicate with peers via text messaging."
date: "2011-03-31"
authors:
  - name: "Amanda Lenhart"
    job_title: "Former Director of Teens and Technology Research at the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/amanda-lenhart/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2011/03/31/when-i-text-i-can-say-just-what-i-want-to-say-gender-and-adolescents-use-of-text-messaging-with-peers/"
categories:
  - "Mobile"
  - "Teens & Tech"
  - "Teens & Youth"
  - "Texting"
tags:
  - "Teens"
---

# “When I text I can say just what I want to say:” Gender and Adolescents’ Use of Text Messaging with Peers

http://www.slideshare.net/PewInternet/the-new-centrality-of-mobile-phones-how-adolescents-text-talk-with-friends-and-how-that-compares-with-other-forms-of-interpersonal-communication

Adolescents rely heavily on text messaging to communicate with peers, romantic partners, and perhaps also parents and other adults. According to** **[**a large scale survey on teens and texting**](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/Reports/2010/Teens-and-Mobile-Phones.aspx) conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project ([Lenhart](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/Experts/Amanda-Lenhart.aspx), Ling, Campbell, & [Purcell](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/Experts/Kristen-Purcell.aspx), 2010), 75% of 12–17-year-olds own cell phones, 72% of all adolescents (88% of cell phone users) use text messaging regularly, 54% contact friends daily via text messaging, and girls use text messaging more than boys do. This symposium examines how adolescent boys and girls communicate with peers via text messaging:

**The New Centrality of Mobile Phones: How Adolescents Text and Talk With Friends Compared With Other Forms of Communication** - *Amanda Lenhart, Richard Ling, Scott Campbell, Kristen Purcell (Shown above; download as a [**PPT**](~/media/Files/Presentations/2011/Mar/SRCD_Teens_Texting_talking_w_Friends_033111_Lenhart.ppt)** **or [**PDF**](~/media/Files/Presentations/2011/Mar/SRCD_Teens_Texting_talking_w_Friends_033111_pdfLenhart.pdf).)
* This presentation highlights results from [**a large national survey**](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/Reports/2010/Teens-and-Mobile-Phones.aspx)** **in the United States showing that text messaging is adolescents' preferred mode of communicating with friends, and that girls embrace all forms of communication via cell phones more than boys.

**"Girls Text Really Weird": Cross-Gender Texting Among Teens **- *Richard Ling
* This presentation features telecommunications data from Norway demonstrating that text messaging to other-gender individuals is at its height during adolescence, but also responses from U.S. adolescents in focus groups that indicate challenges involved in other gender communication.

**Gender and Electronic Communication: Relations Between Friendship Qualities and Adjustment and Use of Text Messaging -** *Marion K. Underwood, Lisa H. Rosen, David More, Samuel E. Ehrenreich, Joanna K. Gentsch
* The third presentation examines how adolescents’ friendship qualities and adjustment relate to the frequency of text messaging, measured by electronic billing records.

Chair: Marion K. Underwood

Discussant: Patricia M. Greenfield