Texting more popular than face-to-face conversation

Talking on a mobile phone became less common last year after a long period of growing popularity, but the use of text messages has continued to increase.

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

More than half (58 per cent) of adults now say they use text messages at least once a day to communicate with family and friends, while only 49 per cent meet people face-to face on such a regular basis.

Forty-seven per cent speak to close ones on a mobile phone every day, and 33 per cent communicate daily via social networking.

Despite the figures, British adults say that they would prefer to meet (67pc) or speak on the phone (10pc) than communicate with people by text (5pc). Some 90 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds exchange texts with friends and family at least once a day, followed by social networking (74pc), mobile phone calls (67pc) and face-to-face contact (63pc).

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 per cent.

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: "Our research reveals that in just a few short years, new technology has fundamentally changed the way that we communicate.

"Talking face to face or on the phone are no longer the most common ways for us to interact with each other.

"In their place, new forms of communications are emerging which don't require us to talk to each other – especially among younger age groups.

"This trend is set to continue as technology advances and we move further into the digital age."

The survey also illustrated the increasing popularity of smart phones with four in ten adults now owning one - a 12 per cent increase from 2010.

Of those who own a smart phone, forty per cent said it was their main method of accessing the internet as the overall time spent using the web on mobile phones rose 25 per cent year on year.

Britons rate traditional post as their preferred method of sending someone a greeting on a special occasion, with 58 per cent of adults still sending birthday cards by mail.

But 30 per cent fewer people today say they regularly use the post compared with two years ago, and mail volumes have fallen by 25 per cent in the past five years, according to the report.