Having Text? Cell Phone Users Are Cheating on Their Partners

This isn’t the kind of news we like to report as Valentine’s Day approaches, but . . .

 

More than one-third of young mobile phone users have flirted, via text-messaging, while on a date with someone else, according to a new survey from a Boston-based online social community.

 

Officials with MocoSpace also say that 42 percent of cell phone users say they’ll turn to a social networking site for companionship when Valentine’s Day arrives on Saturday.

 

According to Justin Siegel, co-founder and chief executive officer of MocoSpace, which also has offices in Israel, the mobile phone, particularly for young consumers, has emerged as an inherently social device which is the foundation upon which his company’s platform was built.

 

“We’re talking about a younger generation for whom the mobile phone is an appendage and so it’s no surprise that mobile phones are pivotal to people’s social lives and that sites like MocoSpace are growing so quickly in popularity,” Siegel said.

 

The survey finds that 71 percent of young cell phone users say the mobile phone is the most important device when it comes to their social lives, trumping computer-based Internet and the landline phone communications, at 2 percent each.

 

“Though ‘in person’ was important (21 percent), a significant majority (73 percent) of respondents said that their mobile was the means they relied on most to stay connected to friends reflecting the increasingly important role of the mobile device in the lives of young mobile consumers, and the virtual nature of relationships of this upcoming generation,” MocoSpace said.

 

The rising popularity of text-messaging is well-documented – and it’s raised some harrowing questions.

 

As TMCnet reported, mobile phone users are using text messaging as a mainstream communication vehicle, a trend that industry insiders say raises safety concerns about using the technology while driving.

 

About 55 percent of consumers now use text messaging and 42 percent use their mobile phones to text as much or more than they do to make calls, according to a report from Common Knowledge Research Services. The report, “Consumer Text Messaging Habits,” was commissioned by the Vlingo Corporation, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based wireless data services company.

 

Vlingo’s chief executive officer, Dave Grannan, said the report shows that government officials will need to draft public policy to ensure that texting is done safely.

 

“Text messaging has become an integral part of how younger generations communicate, and right now their behavior and attitudes suggest that 50 percent will be driving and texting,” Grannan said. “This problem is only going to get worse and we need to develop public policies and technologies to address this challenge.”

 

Hopefully this weekend – even if they’re running to the bathroom to flirt via texting – young people out on dates can at least find something interesting to talk to each other about while they’re in the car.

 

Some of what MocoSpace found about text-messaging’s use is surprising.

 

For example, nearly half (45 percent) of respondents they’ve used a mobile phone to break up with somebody with text messaging being the most common (62 percent) method of those admitting so.

 

“Mobile was also the device of choice for Valentine’s even among those that prefer social networking on the computer (27 percent said they’d turn to their mobile) or equally on mobile and the computer (35 percent),” company officials say.