Simple Message Service (SMS) text messaging is a ubiquitous technology available on the vast majority cellphones in use in 2012. Moreover, SMS is widely and regularly used, and provides a technological common denominator between mobile devices of nearly every make and model. This level of commonality may allow researchers an avenue to collect data without the expense and difficulty of designing specific applications for every cellphone on the market for the past few years. The Student Daily Life Survey used SMS text messaging as a method of data collection using a sample of students from a large, Midwestern university. The procedure adapted conventional time use procedures to fit the device, the sample, and the behavior of interest. After answering questions on a brief Web survey, students were asked to text researchers for five days, updating major changes in their activities. Following data collection, data from the text condition was compared to that from a conventional (Web) survey and data from a reverse record check from campus recreation facilities to validate the behavior of interest — physical exercise and activity. Text respondents showed consistently higher quality data on self-reports of the behaviors of interest. Moreover, indicators of text data quality (e.g., number of text messages sent, number of late messages, number of days without messages) have predictive validity on the behavior of interest. In this methodological brief, we describe our procedures, the quality of these data, and make suggestions for improvements to the procedure and give advice to other researchers interested in using this procedure.