You don't need a survey to tell you that teens love their cell phones. All you have to do is look around.

But in case you need some data to prove the obvious, check out the results of a survey from the CTIA (the wireless industry trade group) and Harris Interactive.

For example, we knew that teens cared about cell phones, but I had no idea that cell phones are second only to clothing when it comes to a teen's social status, outranking jewelry, watches and even shoes. 57% of the 2,000 teens surveyed said that cell phones are the key to their social life. The survey found that nearly 80% of teens carry a cell phone, a 40% increase over 2004.

What are they doing?

52% said that the cell phone "has become a new form of entertainment" and one-third of teens play games on their phone, according to the CTIA. 80% said that the phone makes them feel safer and more secure when they're out and about. 79% said they would use their phone to call someone if they missed a ride, 51% said they would use it to get information they "desperately needed" and 3% said they would use it to help someone else in trouble.

As you might expect, texting is quite popular, with 42% of those responding saying that they can text "blindfolded." That's more than I can do with my eyes wide open! About a third of teens use their phone to browse the Web; of those, nearly half access social networking sites, while 29% get driving directions, 24% "things for class" and 12% to access blogs and international news.

Teens even helped researchers define their "dream phone." It ought to be shock and water proof, have an endless power supply so there'd be no need to charge it and it would be completely scratch proof. 58% of teens want a privacy screen so only they would see it and about half want keys to automatically popup through the touch screen to provide them with a full keyboard.