Text-Mad Britons Send 200 Messages A Month

Text messaging is now the most popular form of daily communication between British adults, new figures have shown.

After years of increasing use, the amount of time British adults spend speaking on a mobile phone has dropped for the first time.

But the average Briton now sends 200 texts a month, Ofcom's Communications Market Report found - more than double the figure of four years ago.

Text messaging has overtaken speaking on a mobile phone and face-to-face contact as the most-used method of daily communication between friends and family.

More than half (58%) of UK adults use text messages at least once a day to communicate with family and friends.

This is more than the figure for face-to-face contact, speaking on a mobile phone and social networking.

Despite the figures, British adults say that they would prefer to meet or speak on the phone than communicate by text.

The time spent on a mobile phone is down for the first time, from 125 billion minutes in 2010 to 124 billion last year, while calls made on landlines continued to drop by 10%.

The report also found that British adults spent 3.3 hours a month social networking on a PC or laptop in 2011, up from 3.1 hours in 2010.

James Thickett, Ofcom's director of research, said: "Over the past year there have been some major shifts in the way we communicate with each other.

"By far the most popular means of communication on a day-to-day basis is by text messaging."

He added: "We have known for several years that the volume of calls on a landline has been falling. But for the first time ever we have seen the volume of calls on the mobile phone also declining."

He said this was partly due to the take up of smart phones - enabling people to communicate using social networking, instant messaging or email.

"Texting is seen as a traditional means of communication these days but it is still continuing to grow."