Young Latinos Communicate with Friends via Mobile

Published on July 29, 2010

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Young Latinos - that is, those ages 16-25 - make extensive use of mobile technology for socializing, per data from the Pew Hispanic Center.

Half of young Latinos say they text daily, while 45% say they talk daily with friends via a cell phone. That compares to 18% who say they talk to friends daily on a land line, and 10% who say they email their friends daily, according to the data.

Differences among Latinos

But mobile communication among Latinos differs by language: while 68% of English-dominant and 50% of bilingual young Latinos use text messaging daily, just 19% of Spanish-dominant young Latinos do the same. It also differs by nativity: 65% of native-borns say they communicate with their friends by text message daily, while just 26% of the foreign-born do so. 55% of native-borns talk daily by cell phone with their friends, compared to 29% of the foreign-born say they do the same.

Less Mobile Communication than Non-Latinos

Though text messaging and cell phone calls are the most widely used media of social communication among young Latinos, they use these platforms less extensively than their non-Latino counterparts. Among 16- and 17-year-olds, 49% of Hispanics text daily, compared with 64% of non-Hispanics, while 44% of Hispanics say talk daily on a cell phone, compared with 51% of non-Hispanics who say the same.

47 Million U.S. Hispanics

Hispanics are the nation’s largest and youngest minority ethnic group. In 2008, there were 46.9 million Hispanics in the U.S., representing 15.4% of the total U.S. population. Among young people, Hispanics represent an even larger share. Some 18%, or 7.5 million, of those ages 16 to 25 are Hispanic.