Occasionally I post some observations about people (or, as we writers know them, “characters”) that you might find useful when writing fiction. This one is about how texting has become a routine part of the life of teen-agers—if you’re writing teen-age characters who aren’t texting, you’re giving away your age…
Here are some observations in a recent article by Katie Hafner in the New York Times:
“American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Nielsen Company — almost 80 messages a day, more than double the average of a year earlier.
Dr. Martin Joffe, a pediatrician in Greenbrae, Calif., recently surveyed students at two local high schools and said he found that many were routinely sending hundreds of texts every day.
“That’s one every few minutes,” he said. “Then you hear that these kids are responding to texts late at night. That’s going to cause sleep issues in an age group that’s already plagued with sleep issues.”
“Greg Hardesty, a reporter in Lake Forest, Calif., said that late last year his 13-year-old daughter, Reina, racked up 14,528 texts in one month. She would keep the phone on after going to bed, switching it to vibrate and waiting for it to light up and signal an incoming message.” (Her parents confiscated her phone for a while and now limit her to 5000 (!) text messages a month.”
Who knew? Maybe you did, if you have a teen-ager…
(For tips on writing your novel and other types of writing, see my book, "Your Writing Coach," available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online and offline retailers.)
