Mobile data consumption by US teenagers has more than tripled in the past year, according to a study from Nielsen. Using data from monthly cell phone bills of over 65,000 mobile subscribers over Q3 2011, the study found that teens aged 13-17 used an average of 320MB of data per month on their phones, up 256 per cent compared to last year. Teen males, using 382MB per month, ranked higher than females, using 266 MB.

David Gosen, Nielsen managing director telecom Europe, says: “The explosion in data usage is being driven by an increase in the popularity of media-rich activities – like music, video and the use of apps – which themselves are being fuelled by higher smartphone penetration. As data usage increases, operators need to work out how to maintain the speed and quality of their service and how to charge appropriately.” 

Messaging is the most common activity for teens in the US, each sending and receiving an average of 3,417 SMS and MMS messages per month – seven messages every waking hour. Voice usage, however, has declined from an average of 685 minutes to 572 minutes over the last year. When surveyed, the top three reasons given by US teens as to why they prefer messaging to calling were because it is faster (22 per cent), easier (21 per cent), and more fun (18 per cent).