Americans have made their preference clear when it comes to celebrating Mother’s Day: they’d rather send a text than make a phone call. New network data from AT&T shows that more than 75% of Mother’s Day communications in 2025 happened via text message, creating a ratio of roughly three texts for every phone call to mom.
The findings highlight a broader shift in how families communicate during major holidays. While phone calls were once the standard way to reach out on special occasions, the convenience and lower pressure of texting has clearly won over most Americans when it comes to Mother’s Day greetings.
Houston emerged as the city that loves mom the most, generating almost 3 million more texts and calls than any other city on Mother’s Day 2025. The Texas city claimed the top spot for the second year running, followed by San Antonio and Chicago as the cities with the highest volume of maternal communications. These three cities have held their positions as the top destinations for Mother’s Day outreach in both 2024 and 2025.
The data also revealed interesting regional patterns in how Americans connect with their mothers. Six out of the top 10 cities for Mother’s Day communications are located in the South, suggesting that regional culture may play a role in family communication habits during holidays.
This shift toward text-based communication reflects broader changes in how Americans use their phones. Younger generations have grown up with texting as their primary form of communication, and this preference appears to extend even to important family occasions like Mother’s Day. The lower barrier to entry for sending a quick message – whether it’s a heart emoji, a sweet note, or a simple check-in – makes it easier for people to reach out without the time commitment or potential awkwardness of a phone conversation.
The telecommunications industry has been tracking these communication pattern changes for years. Voice calls have been declining as a percentage of overall mobile usage, while messaging apps and SMS continue to grow. Mother’s Day provides a particularly clear snapshot of these trends because it represents a day when most Americans make an extra effort to communicate with family.
For businesses and service providers, understanding these communication preferences helps inform network capacity planning and service offerings. The fact that text volume significantly outpaces voice calls on high-traffic days like Mother’s Day influences how companies allocate resources and design their infrastructure to handle peak demand periods.