10,446

Because I love to put a picture with a post, I present to you: Austen, self portrait, 9/2006.

So .... back to the number above: 10,446. Wondering what that might be? Well, I'll tell ya. Our Verizon bill arrived yesterday, and the monthly amount never really changes, except when the boys get sneaky and buy a game or ring back tone. Thankfully, that doesn't happen often, and when it does, well ... they just have to pay me for those charges. No biggie. Anyway, back to the number. For some strange reason, I found myself curious about the number of texts the boys send/receive in a month. Again, our monthly dollar amount never changes, as we have unlimited text messaging. Kale had a whopping 2,996 and I had 488. Which when you really think about it ... I only text Austen, Kale, Darcy, Shawn (sometimes), Alexa (rarely) and my friend Adrianne about carpooling (also rarely) so that seemed like a high number for me. But here's the kicker: Austen had 10,446 for the month. That's 348 texts PER DAY. And let's assume he has about 16 hours per day to text (and eat and be at school and do homework and well ... you get the idea) .. that would translate to about 22 texts per hour. I don't know if I should be impressed or annoyed. I mean, he is still an excellent student, plays sports and has the band. I guess if it's not interfering with life in general, and it's not costing me anything, then what's the harm, right?

Well, then I was wondering. Gosh, this whole text messaging phenomenon ... does that create less-sociable kids, or people in general? Do they stop conversing like normal people? So, then I checked their minutes used and apparently Austen still finds time to talk on the phone, too. He used 972 minutes, Kale used 246 and I used 399. Interesting.