College students average 16,000 words per day

College kids can't STFU.

A recent study published in Science found that both men and women average around 16,000 words per day (17 hours).

The authors claim women are generally considered to be more talkative than men - citing widespread media usage of a 7,000-versus-2,000 statistic used for the past 15 years. However, their study did not find significant sexual dimorphism. They conclude that "the widespread and highly publicized stereotype about female talkativeness is unfounded."

The study utilized the electronically activated recorder (EAR) to measure the number of words spoken per day in university students in 5 studies in the United States, 1 in Mexico. The students were recorded for as long as 10 days - as short as 2 days.

The EAR was modified to record 30 seconds of every 12.5 minutes. A sample word count was measured and used to extrapolate the number of words per day. And think - some poor graduate student that had to transcribe every recorded word.

Mehl et al 2007 [Science]