The Journal of Student Ministries - http://www.thejournalofstudentministries.com
All About Instant Messages
http://www.thejournalofstudentministries.com/articles/91/1/All-About-Instant-Messages/Page1.html
Surfing the Current

 
By Surfing the Current
Published on 03/19/2008
 
More than four in 10 teenagers, or 43%, who instant message use it for things they wouldn’t say in person; 22% use IMs to ask people out on dates (or accept dates), and 13% use them to break up; one in 10 say they spend three hours or more a day IMing, about double the adult rate; nearly a fifth, or 17%, send more than 100 IMs daily, about triple the number for adults ...

source: AP, November 16
More than four in 10 teenagers, or 43%, who instant message use it for things they wouldn’t say in person; 22% use IMs to ask people out on dates (or accept dates), and 13% use them to break up; one in 10 say they spend three hours or more a day IMing, about double the adult rate; nearly a fifth, or 17%, send more than 100 IMs daily, about triple the number for adults; nearly six in 10 teenagers say they do homework while IMing; a third to half of teenagers say that while IMing they also upload photographs, download music or videos, listen to online radio, or update their blogs or social networking profiles; teens are at least twice as likely as adults to send IMs to a friend’s phone and to use IMs to share music or video files; teens are also more likely than adults to use IMs to chat with more than one person at a time and to send photos or document files; and while 75% of adults say they send more e-mails than instant messages, nearly that many teens say they send more IMs.