Texting Leads to Sex Sooner — and Easier Breakups Later

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Does your heart skip when your phone buzzes with a message from your new flame? If a new survey is to be believed, all those texts and late-night Facebook chats might lead you into the bedroom faster too.

In the survey of 1,200 men and women by Shape and Men’s Fitness magazines, nearly 80% of women and 58% of men said they believed that using social media tools with new partners leads to sex sooner, according to a recent Reuters article. (More on Time.com: See the 50 best iPhone apps)

Maybe it’s because constant digital communication between dates increases a sense of intimacy, and makes even days-old relationships seem longer or more intense. Or maybe it’s because lovey-dovey text messages (or sexting, more likely) amps up anticipation and paves the way to the bedroom sooner.

But regardless of what they said they believed about digital communication hastening sex, only 38% of women said they had actually slept a partner sooner than they otherwise would have, because of a textual relationship. (More on Time.com: 5 Little-Known Truths About American Sex Lives)

In any case, the survey found that most communication between couples is now happening by text instead of phone: men said they texted 39% more often than they called, and women reported texting 150% more often than phoning.

It’s no wonder, then, that 65% of respondents said they had been asked out via text message. The text was also a common mode of breaking up: 43% of women and 27% of men reported at least one instance of getting dumped via text.

Of course, there’s a fine line between socializing and stalking. More than two-thirds of respondents said they had Googled dates before meeting in person, and once the relationship blossomed, 72% of women said they had inspected their new partner’s ex-girlfriends’ Facebook pages. (More on Time.com: 5 Ways to Stop Stressing)

Even after breakups, online connections persisted: 81% of survey respondents said they were hesitant to defriend their exes on Facebook, and 75% admitted to regularly checking their former partner’s profile page.

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