America's obsessed with texting: Over 1 trillion texts sent in 2008

After digging around in the archives, I found a post from December of 2006 predicting the future of text messaging. The author said texting should reach numbers of 2.3 trillion by 2010. Well, it's 2009, and we're getting close to reaching that estimate. CTIA -- The Wireless Association released its Semi-Annual Industry Survey results for 2008 on April 1, 2009. According to the survey, over 1 trillion text messages were sent in 2008.

With smartphones becoming increasingly more popular, it's becoming easier to text. The survey says there are more than 270 million wireless users in the US. Each person sends about 13 messages a day, and more than 3.5 billion texts are sent nationwide each day. In 2007, the number of text messages sent was about 363 million -- about a third of today's number.

Also, other multi-media messages and photos are being sent more now, with over 15 billion MMS messages reported for 2008, up from 6 billion in 2007.

But, texts aren't the only thing in the trillions. The survey showed that customers used more than 2.2 trillion minutes in 2008, up from 100 billion minutes in the year before5.

What do you think? Are you one of the average users who texts about 13 times a day? Do you text less, or more? Let us know in the comments below.

[Via MobileCrunch]