Mobile Statistics

• 24% of teens ages 14-17 have been involveld in "some type of naked sexting," either by cellphone or on the Internet. (The Associated Press and MTV, Sept. 2009)

• 20% of teens have sent or posted nude or seminude photgraphs or videos of themselves. (Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, Kathleen Clarke-Pearson and COUNCIL ON COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA, March 2011)

• 25% of teenage cell phone owners use them for socilat media; 54% for text; and 24% for instant messaging. (Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, Kathleen Clarke-Pearson and COUNCIL ON COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA, March 2011)

• 44% of teens say it is common for sexually suggestive text messages to get shared with people other than the intended recipient. (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2008)

• 48% of teens say they have recieved a sexually suggestive messagea (via text, email or IM). (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2008)

• 39% of teens have sent or posted sexually suggestive emails or text messages. (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2008)

• 75% of teens (12-17) own their own cell phone. (Pew Internet & American Life Project.  "How Do They Even Do That?" A Pew Internet Guide to Teens, Mobile phones and Social Media. M Communications Studies, Lenhart, Amanda.  June 2010)

• Of teen device owners 27% go online via their cell phone and 19% go online via their portable gaming device. (Ibid)

• Percentage of teen cell phone owners who use the following functions on their device: 88% text; 83% take pictures; 64% exchange pictures; 60% play music; 54% record videos; 46% play games; 32% exchange video; 31% instant message; 27% general Internet use; 23% social networking sites; 21% email; and 11% purchase products through their mobile phone. (Ibid)

• Percentage of teen cell phone owners who have experienced negative aspects: 54% received spam/unwanted texts; 52% talking while driving; 34% texting while driving; 26% bullied or harrassed; 15% received a sext message; 4% sent a sext. (Ibid)

• 20% of teens media consumption occurs on mobile devices--cell phones, iPods or handheld video game players; kids spend about 49 minutes a day listenting to, playing, or watching other media on their phones--they also spend about an hour and a half a day texting. (Generation M², Media in the Lives of 8-18-year olds; Kaiser Family Foundation Study, January 2010)
  

• Teens who text average approximately 118 messages in a typical day. (Ibid)

• 66% of 8- to 18-year olds own their own cell phones; 76% of all 8-to18 yer olds have iPods or other MP3 players. (Ibid)

• About 1 in 5 (19%) of teens have engaged in some kind of sexting; of those, 9% sent a sext; 17% received a sext; and 3% forwarded a sext.[2]

• 53% of teens who sext are girls and 47% are boys.[3]

• Sext senders are more likely to be girls than boys (65% girls vs. 35% boys)[4]

•  People who sext sender sent sext to:[5]

o   60% boyfriend/girlfriend

o   21% someone they had a crush on

o   19% ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend

o   14% best friend

o   18% friends other than their best friend

o   11% someone they don’t know

o   4% classmates

o   14% someone else

• People who received sexts, received them from:[6]

o   75% received from boyfriend/girlfriend

o   49% someone they had a crush on

o   20% ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend

o   20% best friend

o   23% friends other than best friend

o   18% someone they don’t know

o   13% someone else

• Why sext senders sent sext messages[7]

o   43% were asked

o   40% to have fun

o   21% to impress someone

o   18% to feel good about themselves

o   8% to try to date someone

o   4% as a joke

o   3% to make someone jealous

o   1% as a dare

o   29% some other reason

• Friends of sext senders report that:[8]

o   6% report that photo was forwarded to an authority figure and their got in trouble

o   9% say that the photo was posted online where many people could see it

o   10% say that the person their friend sent it to threatened to send it to somebody else

o   12% accidentally sent the picture to the wrong person

o   13% were made fun of by the person that they sent the photo to

o   30% say the photo was forwarded to someone they didn’t want to see it

• 86% of sexters are not caught.  Of those caught, 9% were caught by a parent, 1% were caught by a teacher, 3% were caught by an authority figure, and 3% were caught by someone else.[9]
• 23% of teens think sexting is fine as long as the people sending and receiving the sext think it’s ok (3% don’t think there is any problem with sexting.)[10]
• 52% of teens agree with the statement: “people my age are old enough to decide for themselves whether it is all right for them to send nude or sexually suggestive photos of themselves to other people”[11]
• 48% of teens agree that adults are overreacting when teens send sexually suggestive text messages and emails to each other.[12]