US teens prefer Instant Messaging to publically exposing their diphthongs

One intrepid social butterfly who prefers the IM safety net explained in an AP-AOL survey that it was better to IM a girl in case you lose control of yourself.

''If they freak out or something, you don't see it, ''and if I freak out, they don't have to see it,'' said 17 year old high school student, Cassy Hobert.

The survey also revealed that the IM is by far the favored teen communications method over email with 72 per cent versus 26 per cent of adults who stubbornly rely on words and (in some cases) grammar to communicate.

American youngsters also use IMs to “complete” (wink, wink) homework assignments and organise typical extra-curricular teen activities like underage drinking and driving, premarital sex and shooting at each other.

According to data compiled by the American Automobile Association (AAA), teens have a particular flair for IM multitasking as 46 per cent claim to text message whilst driving and subsequently cause accidents at a far greater rate than other drivers.

The survey also indicated that nearly half of teens drive in excess of the posted speed limits by ten miles per hour, drink alcoholic beverages and use drugs while IM-ing as they ply American roadways in high speed swerving serpentines decapitating fire hydrants and rebounding off fellow motorists like bumper cars.

In other words, “instant messaging is just a part of everyday life especially among teens … ” said  Marcien Jenckes, Vice President & General Manager, AIM & Social Networking, AOL.

The AP-AOL survey also revealed that almost 30 per cent of teens say they can't imagine living without instant messaging. Girls proved to be more addicted to IM-ing with 36 per cent saying “they would just die with out IMs” compared with 23 per cent of boys. Teenagers in the northeastern region of the US at 43 per cent are much more likely to IM than their counterparts in other regions likely due to megalopolis population centers concentrated along the Atlanta seaboard.

Fifty-one per cent of American male adults who IM say they send instant messages to people they've never met in person, compared with 35 percent of females; likewise 56 per cent of unmarried adult IM users do the same, compared to one-third of married adults.

Amongst “at-work” IM users, 59 per cent send at least six or more IMs each day and over 41 per cent remarked that “instant messaging makes them more productive in the workplace,” regardless of whom they are messaging.