WASHINGTON – OMG. Dat u mom?
Yes, it is. Parents are horning in on their teenagers' lives through text messaging. Sending shorthand cell phone messages used to be the province of the younger set – under the dinner table, in the car, at all hours of the night.
Now, parents are responding with quick dispatches – “RU there,” “Running L8” – and becoming the fastest-growing demographic in text messaging, which is one of the biggest areas of the mobile-phone industry.
Parents frequently follow children into technology, setting up pages on social-networking sites, for example, in a bid to become their “friends.” Parental text messaging is outstripping the growth rate among younger generations. In the past two years, use of the technology by those ages 45 to 54 increased 130 percent, according to M:Metrics, a market-research firm. By comparison, text messaging among those ages 13 to 17 increased by 41 percent.
Sprint Nextel said teens and adults ages 40 to 50 were the most active text-message users from June 2006 to June 2007. Of adults, mothers are driving the growth, the company said. Overall revenue from data services on cell phones, including text messages, surged 53 percent last year to $23 billion, according to CTIA, the wireless-industry trade group.
“Parents like the immediacy of it and that it is not intrusive. . . . It's become an important way of communicating with their kids,” said Ralph de la Vega, chief executive of AT&T Mobility, the nation's largest wireless carrier. Children are introducing their parents to the technology; in a 2006 study commissioned by AT&T, 50 percent of adults who text-messaged said they started because of their children.
Suzanne Furman of Rockville, Md., had watched her teenage son, Jesse, move his thumbs at lightning speed over the keypad, sending hundreds of messages a month to friends.
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Text messaging
Parental text messaging is outstripping the growth rate among younger generations.
130 percent: Increase in texting by those ages 45 to 54.
41 percent: Increase in texting by those ages 13 to 17.
Most active: Teens and adults ages 40 to 50.
$23 billion: Overall revenue from data services on cell phones, including text messages.
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“It didn't take me long to realize I'd have to learn how to text if I wanted to keep up with him,” Furman said.
So she did – with some prodding. Two years ago, Jesse sent a message asking when she would come to pick him up from an outing with friend.
“I just stood there frozen and realized I had to figure out how to reply,” said Furman, an avid user of many other technologies such as the Web and digital music. She thumbed through the numeric keyboard on her Motorola KRZR phone, taking several minutes to write, “Coming now.”
With that, Furman dived into a technology that she says remains difficult to master but has become a staple for family communication. Today, she texts her husband to coordinate errands and sports-practice drop-offs.
“Text messaging is perfect for moms because it doesn't require a BlackBerry or high-end data device, but can be used on any phone,” said Roger Entner, a senior vice president at IAG Research. He added that working parents use text messaging as a tool to check in with children.
For families, wireless carriers' flat-rate plans have been a panacea for sky-high texting bills, in some cases incurred after a teen sends hundreds or thousands of text messages a month.
After that happened to Lynda Johnson, she switched her family to Sprint's flat monthly plan. Her 17-year-old daughter and 20-year-old son were sending hundreds of text messages monthly.
Her daughter, Jesse, was given a cell phone at age 14 for emergencies and for coordinating logistics with her parents. More often, however, Jesse would spend hours texting friends from the couch or back seat of the car.
Johnson said that when she called her daughter, “I could tell I was bothering her or interrupting because her voice was cold and hurried.”
So one evening, while Jesse was at a sleepover, Johnson sent her first text message: “Sweet dreams. Luv u.” It was a way to check in with her 14-year-old without seeming overbearing.
“I don't want to interrupt her with her friends, but also want her to know that I'm here for her,” Johnson said.
Evon Ruffin, a Bethesda, Md., mother, had to learn a new language – cryptic abbreviations such as L8R for “later” – as well as the new technology.
Carriers have tried to help parents new to texting. AT&T, for example, offers a four-page guide on lingo. Verizon Wireless' Quick Text feature lets parents choose from a menu of phrases such as “What's up?” and “On my way,” so they don't have to type each letter.
Ruffin said she draws limits on joining the text-message culture. Not so her husband, who recently sent her a one-letter text that read “k” for “OK.”
“Come on, now – 'OK' is already abbreviated,” she protested. “And you're going to try to shorten it even more? Please.”
