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On a sunny afternoon at Pullman Square, a group of young adults is sitting on park benches. Some are chatting face to face, while others are hunched over their cell phones, thumbs at work.

Ericha Roberts, a 16-year-old from South Point, Ohio, said she prefers using her cell phone to send text messages, rather than making phone calls, simply because she can send a message to several people at once. "I can send a message to 20 people and see if they want to hang out," she said.

John Narcise, a 20-year-old from Huntington, likes texting because he can keep it brief, and cutting off a text-message conversation isn't as rude as cutting off a telephone conversation.

John Wolfe, a 20-year-old from Chesapeake, Ohio, likes that if he's among a group of friends, he can exchange text messages without disrupting the others, and if he's at a concert, he can communicate with friends without having to leave to go somewhere quiet for a phone call.

These are all reasons behind the phenomenon that is the text message explosion. It's a practice generally unheard of a decade ago, that today is a preferred form of communication for kids, professionals and those who want to get a quick message out to masses of people. And many parents are picking up on it because it's the fastest way to talk to their kids.

"You can do it quickly. You can do it in a meeting. You can do it quietly," said Joe Farren, assistant vice president for public affairs with CTIA: The Wireless Association. "It's a very efficient , simple, quick and cool way to communicate. A whole new 'texting' language has been created.

"All demographics are involved it. When older folks like me text nieces and nephews and kids, they probably feel hip."

According to CTIA, the number of texts exchanged nationally has increased from just under 10 billion in December of 2005 to 48 billion in December 2007.

Verizon Wireless saw roughly 58 billion text messages exchanged in its first quarter of 2008, and 70 billion in its second, spokeswoman Laura Merritt said.

"You think at some point it's going to taper off, but it's not happening," Merritt said.

AT&T reports similarly rapid growth. It reported in its second quarter earnings that text messaging volumes tripled compared to totals for the year-earlier quarter. In the second quarter of 2007, more than 18 billion text messages crossed the AT&T network. The same quarter of 2008, the number escalated to 55 billion, and AT&T has already surpassed its total text messaging volume number from 2007, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Gautier, spokewoman for AT&T.

AT&T believes two key areas are driving text messaging growth: popularity of unlimited plans (both for individuals and families) and the increase of full keyboard devices that make texting faster and easier, Gautier said.

According to a 2007 Nielsen survey, smart phones, which are phones with full keyboards, generate 122 percent more text messages than standard wireless phones, she said.

Texting was initially driven by a generation of young people who grew up using computers, said Merritt of Verizon.

"If you think about it, a wireless phone is like a miniature computer," Merritt said. "It has pretty much all the capabilities that you have on a desktop computer. It's easy to see the transition from 'instant messaging' on their computer to texting on their phones."

What's interesting is that more and more adults are moving into the world of texting as well, she said. For many, it's simply the best way to stay in touch with their kids. Merritt has a 14-year-old daughter herself, and based on her own experience and talking to other parents, she finds that kids are more responsive to their parents via texts.

"They don't want to answer the phone and say, 'Hi, mom.' (Texting) is very subtle, and they can have a communication with mom and dad," she said. And a child who goes away to college is more willing to send a text to their parents telling them what they've done that day than picking up the phone and calling, she said.

Wolfe of Chesapeake said he taught his mom to text, and she uses the technique every once in a while to talk with her son.

"She texted me this morning because she didn't want to wake me up," he said.

Roberts of South Point wishes she could have a plan that allotted fewer minutes for talking and more texts. Last week she was already 800 texts over for the month.

"I only text," she said. "I don't use my minutes. I get 800 minutes, but I only use 300."

People in the business world are finding texting a useful tool as well, Merritt said.

"Again, it's very subtle. They may be in a meeting and need to get an answer to someone that's come out of the meeting, and they can send a quick message that's subtle."

It's a great tool, said Teddy Kleumper, director of development and communications for Huntington Area Habitat for Humanity.

"I have found it is the most efficient and effective way to say what you need to say in a very quick, timely manner," Kleumper said. "Being constantly on the run, it's nice to be able to communicate with the office and coworkers in seconds."

It's great for personal use as well, he said. He can more easily stay in touch with family members who live in different parts of the country, and his wife can quickly ask him to pick up milk on the way home. She also sends texts and pictures of their 16-month-old, he said.

"She'll send me pictures during the day of the baby and the dog or something," Kleumper said. "It's nice to see that."

Kleumper also is a softball coach and said it's a great way to keep his team updated about rain delays and game schedules.

And people are thinking bigger than get-togethers and and softball practice. Dozens of Fortune 500 companies use texting for mass marketing, said Farren of CTIA.

Schools use it as a way to alert students and parents of schedule changes and emergencies. Putnam County Schools approved this summer a contract with Reliance Communications, a California-based company, to implement an automated calling service called School Messenger. The service has the ability to communicate messages via phone, text and e-mail with roughly 20,000 people in about 10 minutes. It will initially be used by the school system to relay events such as early dismissals or shelter in place circumstances to parents or those they designate.

At the beginning of the school year, parents/guardians will receive a form that will allow them to indicate the manner in which they want to be informed and who they want to receive the notification.

A texting Amber Alert, a partnership between wireless companies and law enforcement, sends out a text message to inform cell phone users of a missing child. It sends the message to those in the geographic area of the alert, Farren said.

"All those eyeballs now that only used to get Amber Alerts over the TV or the radio, they can get that wherever they are, and it greatly increases the chance of having child returned to their family," Farren said.

The American Red Cross uses texting as a way to raise funds for victims of disaster. The program, Text2Help is a partnership between wireless companies and and the Red Cross. "When a natural disaster occurs, you can text to a short code, and a $5 donation will be automatically put on your wireless bill," Farren said.

There's no sign of the trend slowing down, Farren said. If anything, more and more people are realizing that if you want to talk to more people, you have to use their method of talk, he said.

"Listen, it's how people are communicating, and if you want to stay in touch with your consumers and your customers, you gotta get in the game," he said.

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Mark Webb/The Herald-Dispatch

Ashley Bond, who sent 10,456 text messages in July, sends a text from her phone on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008, at Pullman Square. Ashley finds that it is easier to communicate through text messages rather than calls.

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Thomas Marsh/The Herald-Dispatch