College Times

Issue date: 9/25/08 Section: Sex

Media Credit: Photos.com

We'll never admit it, but most of us have done it, maybe only once or twice - then again, maybe on a daily basis - and if you haven't, you probably will: check your significant other's cell phone for incriminating text messages.

Some lovers SMS snoop simply because they can, and others, like Erin Keller of Tempe, do it because they have a sickening feeling in their stomach that their significant other is screwing around with the opposite sex.

"I checked my boyfriend's phone for text messages after I felt like he had been cheating on me, just to see if he was texting other girls and vice versa," says Keller. "I couldn't really tell he was cheating on me, but he was texting girls and that made me not feel like a girlfriend."

Like Keller, those who check cell phones usually find suspicious text messages and although some may be harmless, they may appear otherwise and the uncertainty can certainly take a toll on a relationship.

According to a recent online survey, conducted for telecoms service provider Virgin Mobile, 45 percent of 500 Australian mobile phone users aged 18 to 29 said they discovered flirtatious or sexual texts ranging from harmless to graphic and 10 percent ended their relationship because of it.

Says Keller, "The texting wasn't what broke us up, there were other factors involved, but it's what got things rolling for me to realize I'm better than that. It cured my curiosity to find out what was up, but it also numbed me and it was a little something that made the ball rolling to break up."

Although Keller was content that her curiosity was cured, 73 percent of the survey's participants regretted reading their significant other's text messages, because they found things they later wished they hadn't.

Kieran Thompson of Tempe, who has never done and will never do such a thing, says, "I think that's whack as fuck (checking your significant other's cell phone). Trust is key in any relationship, and if you don't trust your significant other enough to leave their cell phone alone, you need to get out of that relationship right now," or else, like 60 percent of the survey's participants, you might find yourself SMS snooping while your significant other is in the shower or, like 41 percent of the survey's participants, you might find yourself text-checking while your significant other is in the same room.

Ian Fischer of Phoenix says: "Having an electronic record for any kind of interaction, such as text messaging, can lead to problems if you're going to engage in undesirable activity. All technology makes it more likely that you will get caught and if people are going to behave in an incriminating fashion then they probably should not document it. It's stupid to behave that way in the first place, but it's even more stupid not to delete it."

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