58 percent of people in UK send text messages each day, that’s way ahead of 47 percent who prefer making phone calls according to a study by Ofcom, the Independent regulator for the UK communications industries.

The change in communication is being driven by the growth of smartphones, and Ofcom found that more than one quarter of adults (27 per cent) and close to half of teenagers (47 per cent) now own one.

Smartphones are also impacting the way mobile users get online. Of those included in the study, 42 percent regard their smartphone as the primary device for accessing the Web. When surfing the mobile Web social networking is (unsurprisingly) a regular activity for 42 percent of users, but email reigns supreme as an activity for more than half (51 percent.)

Spending time on Facebook, Twitter and other sites accounted for an average of 90 minutes of British consumers’ time each week, while the equivalent of 5 text messages per person are sent each day.