The Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) released its \u201c2011 Rural Youth Telecommunications Survey\u201d with a key finding that only 25 percent of rural teens use 500 or more call minutes monthly, down from 65 percent in 2009.\u00a0This large decrease is indicative of national trends that show teens talking less and texting more.<\/p>\n
The biennial study had 1,967 rural youth respondents between the ages of 14 and 23.<\/p>\n
Another interesting finding was related to cyberbullying.\u00a0One in three respondents indicated that they are aware of an incident happening to a friend or acquaintance, while one in 10 has been personally involved in a cyberbullying incident.<\/p>\n
The survey also found that nine out of 10 respondents have a cellphone, eight out of 10 use their phones for texting and more than half use their phones to take pictures.\u00a0Nearly one-third use their phones to surf the web. In terms of costs, four in 10 respondents pay between $31 and $100 monthly.\u00a0Seven out of 10 respondents indicated that their parent or guardian pays for their cell service and one-quarter pay for their own service, either by themselves or together with their parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to see the stats with rural youth telecommunications services track with national trends,\u201d stated FRS President Tom Conry, who also serves as general manager of Farmers Mutual Cooperative Telephone Company in Harlan, Iowa.\u00a0\u201cWe expect that the explosion in technology will continue to impact how rural youth communicate and socialize.\u201d<\/p>\n