Research has found one in seven Britons have accidentally sent a sexually explicit text to the wrong person.
www.MobileInsurance.co.uk surveyed 2,179 United Kingdom adults between 21 and 30, asking them about their texting habits and if they’d ever sent an explicit message or images in the past, with respondents able to answer anonymously.
Of the 1 in 7, or 14.3%, a quarter of these said the message had an explicit image in it and a tenth said they sent it to a family member.
Twenty five percent of the people who sent a message to the wrong person said they had sent the message to an ex-partner by mistake (oh sure).
The breakdown
Thirty seven percent accidentally sent sexually explicit text messages to their friends (sorry Bill), 17% sent messages to their colleagues (muy awkward) 9% sent them to a family member (you’ll never live that down), 7% sent it to a stranger (not so bad) and 5% sent it to ‘other’ (so…a dog?)
When people who had accidentally sent an explicit text were to the wrong person were asked how they reacted when they realised the mistake, 44% acknowledged it or apologised, 39% ignored it or pretended it didn’t happen (an option probably taken by both parties) 11% went gutsy and pretended it was meant for them, 4% laughed it off and 2% selected ‘other’ (moving to Siberia and changing your name to Olga Fitzwilliam, possibly).
Alcohol made me do it!
Seventy seven percent of respondents who had sent an explicit message accidentally or not said they had done so under the influence of alcohol and 57% regretted sending such a message.
Mobileinsurance.co.uk director Jason Brockman said the company often had customers writing in concerned that the contents of their mobile phone would be revealed when getting their handset fixed, which did not need to concern them due to confidentiality.
“The number of people who had sent a rude text message accidentally to the wrong person was a real shock and, as for those who sent the message to a family member, I cannot imagine how that conversation went afterwards. How embarrassing! To be on the safe side, perhaps steer clear of using your phone for those types of rendezvous!”
