Cell Phone Frenzy

Cell phones have made one of the quickest transitions from luxury to necessity of any product in consumer history. With the now indispensible (for most) gadgets has come a craving for the latest and greatest that has people turning them over astoundingly quickly.

If you’re over 40, chances are you probably grew up answering the same telephone your entire childhood. Now, Americans turn them over annually, many of them heading for landfills. Increasingly, eco-conscious folks are calling for people to slow down just a little. A look at the numbers shows why.

• The average cell phone in America is in use for only 12 months.

• China leads the world with 695.2 million cell phones; there are 271 million in the U.S.

• Americans send an average of four text messages per day.

• The mobile telecom industry brought in $1 trillion in worldwide revenue in 2008, twice the combined revenue of global advertising and computer software industries

• 80 percent of teens carry a wireless device

• 57 percent of teens credit their mobile device with improving their life. Second only to clothing, teens say, a person’s cell phone tells the most about their social status or popularity, outranking jewelry, watches and shoes

Sources: CTIA and Harris Interactive