Using Kik. (Photo: Hashgram)

The inevitable tween regime has further secured its reign with the news that more and more messages are being sent via chat apps, eclipsing SMS for the first time. According to important new research, more than 19 billion texts are sent every day on apps such as iMessage, WhatsApp and others, compared to 17.6 billion SMS messages.

The stats are likely giving telco companies a reason to quiver. Informa estimates that the companies make $120 billion yearly from texting, but the rapidly growing sector apps could endanger that figure. By the end of 2013, the number of messages sent on the “over the top” programs are estimated to double to 40 million. Meanwhile, SMS messages are only expected to rise two billion during the same period.

Of course, the major reason people are beginning to prefer apps like MessageMe is because they're entirely free, with no cost to download or send messages. On average, users send 33 messages per day on the apps, compared to just five SMS messages.

Ted Livingston, the chief executive of tween-favorite Kik, told Financial Times that he is already starting shiva for texting plans:

“I think killing text messaging is going to be inevitable as people switch to [mobile] data plans...If I can get something that is just as good for free, rather than paying for it, I’ll probably take it for free.”

Let’s see how true that holds when his investors start whispering about monetization.

(flickr.com/roland)

Going to therapy is not only costly, but it's just so empire. Know what the hip new way to confront your emotional problems is? Texting about them, of course.

Sociologists and psychologists have always argued that in-person communication trumps the digital when it comes to catharsis, but IT World reports that medical professionals are coming around in terms of the positive effects of textual communication.

Even the most impersonal digital means of contact delivers many of the same benefits as phone conversations or F2F [face to face] meetups according to a newly published study from a clinical psychologist at the University of California at Berkeley. Even profoundly depressed patients often reported feeling reassured, connected and cared for after receiving text messages from therapists, friends or others who appear concerned about their welfare.

You hear that? Soon, therapists will be replaced by automated computer programs that emulate the concern and medical expertise of a psychiatrist. Or people will stop paying for therapy because they'll realize they can get the same basic effects from texting a sad face and receiving the following reply: "Cheer ^! U r 2 awsum 2 b dis sad, smh."

We can feel our hearts mending already.