When teenagers are stooped over their mobile phones, that's just their way of being social. A study by the Pew Research Center finds that teenagers are more likely to interact with their friends via text messaging than have face-to-face conversations with them.

A national survey of teens ages 13 to 17 found that 55% text their friends every day. But just 25% of teens spend time with friends in person (outside of school) on a daily basis. In-person interaction was third behind instant messaging (27% use daily).

And 75% of teens text message their friends at least every few days. By comparison, 64% of teens spend time with their friends in person outside of school at least every few days, Pew said in its report out Thursday.

Other popular forms of teen communication include social media sites, video chatting and networked video games.

When teens make new friends, the first contact information they're likely to share is a phone number for texting. The top forms of contact information shared first are phone number for texting (54%), social media username (18%), phone number for calling (9%), email address (6%) and gaming handle (5%), Pew said.

Teens today even make new friends digitally.

Some 57% of teens have met a new friend online. Social media (such as Facebook (FB) and Instagram) and online gameplay are the most common digital venues for meeting friends, Pew said.

For its study, Pew interviewed more than 1,000 teens ages 13 to 17 who have at least one close friend.

In total, 92% of respondents use the Internet daily.

Asked about devices, 87% own a desktop or laptop computer, 81% own a game console, 73% own a smartphone, and 58% own a tablet.

Among social media sites, Facebook is tops with 71% of teens using it, followed by Facebook-owned Instagram (52%), Snapchat (41%), and Twitter (TWTR) and Google (GOOGL)-owned Google+ (each with 33%).

So, the next time you see a teenager glued to their smartphone, tell yourself they're not being antisocial, they're being social .. . digitally.