More Americans Choose Internet over TV For the first time, a slight majority of Americans would choose the Internet over TV if they were forced to make a choice to use only one of the two forms of technology according to the results of a recent study by Arbitron and Edison Research. Survey participants were presented with a choice to either never again watch television, or never again access the Internet. Just over 49% wanted to keep the Internet and just over 48% preferred to keep TV. The results were based on a national survey of 1,753 persons ages 12 and over. When the question was first asked in 2001, only 26% said they would choose the Internet over TV. For further details about the study, visit Edison Research.  Teen Birth Rates Fell in 2008 Teen birth rates in the U.S. declined in 2008, after increasing in 2006 and 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The 2008 numbers show that the rate declined by 2% among girls 15-19, with the largest decline occurring among 18- and 19-year-olds at 4%. Pew Research Center analysis attributes the birth rate decline in all women of childbearing age to be linked to the recession. Their analysis suggests that the falloff in fertility coincides with deteriorating economic conditions, with a strong association between the magnitude of fertility change in 2008 across states and key economic indicators including changes in per capita income, housing prices and share of the working-age population that is employed across states. However, Valerie Huber, executive director with the National Abstinence Education Association, credits the message of abstinence for the drop in teen birth rates. US Teens Prefer Texting Over Talking Cell phone texting has become the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends, while cell calling is a close second. Some 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones, up from 45% in 2004. These phones have become indispensable tools in teen communication patterns. Fully 72% of all teens – or 88% of teen cell phone users — are text-messagers. That is a sharp rise from the 51% of teens who were texters in 2006. More than half of teens (54%) are daily texters. Among all teens, their frequency of use of texting has now overtaken the frequency of every other common form of interaction with their friends. Fully two-thirds of teen texters say they are more likely to use their cell phones to text their friends than to call them.