What the Smartphone Revolution Is Doing to Us Psychologically

Landline use has fallen sharply while texting has grown, with Americans sending about 58 texts per day and mobile voice calls leveling off. Texting is increasingly the only channel showing meaningful growth. Social anxiety is strongly linked to a preference for texting over calling because texting allows composing, editing, and controlling messages before others see them. Younger adults show stronger texting preferences alongside higher call anxiety than older adults. Loneliness and anxiety can lead to different choices: anxious people tend to prefer texts, while lonely people tend to prefer calls. Using texting to escape boredom can carry costs, including addiction risk and weaker face-to-face skills.

"Talking on the phone has quietly become passé. Landline usage has declined 78 percent in the U.S. since 2000, replaced by smartphones, and the average American adult now sends 58 text messages a day (Laurent, 2026). Even mobile voice calls have plateaued. A 2026 YouGov survey of more than 2,400 Americans found that text messaging is the only communication channel showing meaningful growth, with 29 percent of respondents saying they were texting more than a year ago, compared to just 16 percent saying the same of voice calls (YouGov, 2026)."

"Research consistently shows that people with higher social anxiety strongly prefer texting over calling. This is not merely out of convenience, but because text-based communication offers something voice calls cannot: the ability to compose, edit, and control your message before it reaches anyone else. A 2025 study published in Communication Reports found that younger adults (in their 20s and 30s) showed both stronger texting preferences and higher levels of call anxiety than older adults, and that social anxiety predi"

"Loneliness and anxiety diverge: Anxious people prefer texts; lonely people prefer calls. When anxiety is high, texting can feel safer because it lets people manage what they say and when they say it. When loneliness is the main driver, direct voice contact may feel more satisfying than asynchronous messages."

"Using texts to avoid boredom links to addiction and weakens face-to-face skills. Escape texting can become a habit that replaces in-person interaction, reducing practice with real-time social cues and conversation. Over time, that avoidance can make face-to-face communication feel harder rather than easier."

Read at Psychology Today