Text Messaging Exploding

Forget about phone calls: Americans are letting their fingers do the talking!

According to a recent survey, roughly 158 billion text messages were sent in 2006. That works out to 300,000 a minute.

And it is, reports The Early Show consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen, up 95 percent from the year before.

All those messages raked in $5.67 billion for the wireless industry.

"It's a 'whenever, whatever' type of service that's quick and easy and frankly, it's fun and it's cool!" says Steve Largent of CTIA — The Wireless Association.

It's so quick, says Koeppen, you don't even have to be a good speller. Texting has its own language.

And people are willing to text the darndest things, from directions to, "I want a divorce."

Koeppen asked someone on a Manhattan street if it's "a bad thing that we're texting so much?"

"I think it's a slippery slope," he replied.

Clinical psychologist Belisa Vranich says there are some texting do's and don't: "If it's something that's really serious and has a lot of emotional significance, do not text."

Critics say texting is taking away from the importance of having meaningful conversations.

But, Koeppen says don't worry: Consumers spend more than a trillion minutes talking on their cell phones.

One girl told Koeppen she uses the phone, rather than text messages for one particular person "because i think it's important to talk to my mother on the phone."

Something, Koeppen says, her mom probably appreciates.