Texting for Secrecy

An article in the Washington Post comments on American Youths increasing reliance on text messaging.  Nothing new here.  However, their ‘experts’ had an interesting rationale for why the new form of communication is taking off – secrecy. 

The explosion of this technology was inevitable, according to those
who research adolescent behavior, because it provides a new tool for
creating what teenagers always have wanted and needed — distance from
parents.

"It’s a form of silent communication; they can do it
whenever, they can do it fairly secretively," said Rob Callender,
trends director for Teenage Research Unlimited. In a recent study of
teens, he said, TRU found that texting is the second most popular use
for cellphones, right after using them to check the time. Plus, every
phone number a child calls is recorded on the family phone bill, with a
time stamp. But text messages remain an anonymous, faceless lump number.

Washington Post: For Texting Teens, an OMG Moment When the Phone Bill Arrives

[via Richard Banks]