“Tapping into Text Messaging” by Janet Kornblum

P1] It's 9:30 a.m., and Larry Blair hopes that his 16-year-old son doesn't forget his orthodontist appointment after school.

P2] So Blair, who is on a conference call in his office in Saratoga, Calif., pulls out his cell phone and thumbs in a short message. "can u b @ sasaki @ 330," he asks.

P3] Seconds later, Aaron, sitting at his desk at Saratoga High School, feels his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. He surreptitiously looks at the screen and quietly pumps in a response: "can b there @ 320."

P4] Welcome to the future, where the family that texts together stays together.

P5] Instant, fast, fun and cheap, texting — sending and receiving brief text messages on cell phones and other portable devices — has been the rage in Europe since the late '90s. Now it's making inroads in the USA. Early users love it, but some people worry that it will add yet another distraction to already overtasked lives.

P6] Teens, techies and other early adopters leading the charge to text say it's a great way to communicate when they are too busy to talk or when making a call would be rude or impractical. Parents keep tabs on kids. Business people silently check facts in meetings. Young professionals text-flirt at concerts. And teens gossip with friends, anytime, anywhere.

P7] Teens are especially ahead of the curve: 45% of Americans ages 12-19 have a cell phone, according to market research company Teenage Research Unlimited of Northbrook, Ill. And 37% of teen cell users also use text messaging, with numbers rising every year.

P8] "Some people do it for eight hours at a time," says Lita Cho, 17, a Youth Radio reporter in Alameda, Calif.

P9] Teens aren't the only ones. Texting in the USA has grown from 33 million messages sent in June 2001 to more than 1 billion in December 2002, says the Cellular