Dumpsville

ABC Science Online says "'U R dumped', or 'I H8 U' are fairly blunt ways to end a relationship, but an Australian study of our SMS habits shows text messages are now a common way to say it's over.Clinical psychologist Dr Natalie Robinson from Macquarie University in Sydney asked a group of 100 young adults how they used SMS.She was surprised to find at least 15% percent had ended a relationship with a text message.And some people are more likely to reach for their mobile's keypad than others, especially when relationships get rocky, says Robinson.She conducted the study with students either in relationships, engaged or married, surveyed their personality traits, then used attachment profiling, a way of understanding roles in romantic relationships.Robinson noticed that participants with an 'anxious attachment' style are likely to favour SMS messages in difficult emotional situations. And saying goodbye provides just such a situation."SMS gives people a way of ending relationships without having to confront the other person," she says.Robinson also noticed that of the 18-35 year-olds in her group, it tended to be the younger ones who had dumped a boyfriend or girlfriend via text.But only 7% of the same group had been on the receiving end of a 'U R dumped' text themselves. And as one might expect, being dumped via SMS is not particularly pleasant".

[Ending a relationship with SMS]