Teenagers: Mobile gaming, apps and data greed [Infographic]

A number of recent studies have highlighted that the younger generation are frequently turning to online or text-based communication through their mobile devices, rather than exercising their vocal chords and using a mobile in order to talk in real-time.

However, if mobile devices -- including smartphones and tablets -- are being used more commonly for data-requiring services, then the resultant trend and change in consumer demand will force a change in future mobile tariffs in order to remain globally competitive.

In recent years, how much has our demand for data increased?

The infographic below provided by mobile social entertainment company Fun Mobility, is titled "Generation OMG: How Teens Use Mobile Devices" -- and focuses on the growth of data usage, gaming and mobile applications due to teenage use, between the ages of 13-17.

Daniel Pfeiffer, VP Marketing for FunMobility said:

"With so many conversations happening today around teen cell phone usage, the increase of teen gaming, and of course carriers raising rates for data usage, we felt it was particularly timely to uncover how our users are spending time on mobile devices."

This question has been addressed based on data gathered from both Neilsen's December 2011 report: "?New Mobile Obsession: U.S. Teens Triple Data Usage"? and FunMobility's real time survey of users on their Mobile Engagement Platform. For the latter, over 10,000 respondents were surveyed between November 2011 and February 2012.

Neilsen's 2011 report highlighted that teenagers aged 13-17 and their data usage on mobile devices tripled last year, with an average of 320mb per month -- an increase of 256 percent from the previous year. Extending this report, FunMobility found in their survey that teenagers are spending more time on their mobile devices than any other machine, and 40 percent spend a high portion of their daily time on their phones.

The top four things people do on their mobile devices are: send text message or chat, download applications, play games, and browse the Internet -- a far cry from the days of a brick-like mobile phone and basic calling features.

The survey also found:

76 percent of survey respondents are spending more time on mobile devices in comparison to the previous year.
56 percent stated they spent 'much more time' on their devices than they used to.
Girls are spending text messages 28 percent more frequently than boys.
The rate of message exchanges per month -- including but not limited to SMS -- for each teenager exchanged monthly per teen hit an average of 3,417 in the third quarter of 2011.
The average teenager has 25 apps installed on their mobile device, with an additional 33 percent of respondents stating they have downloaded over 40 apps.

For more information, view the infographic below: