News 2004
‘Tis the season to be sorry!
06/12/2004
06.12.04: Research out today from Virgin Mobile* has revealed that 72% of mobile users suffer from a condition known as ‘intextication’ – that is, they are unable to fight their desire to send flirty text messages when they are drunk. Estimates suggest that around 80 million** text messages will be sent each day during December, so during the season to be merry, up to 57 million of those text messages may have been fuelled by Christmas ‘spirit’ when the mobile user is ‘intexticated’. Forget bad chat up lines at the office party, or sweet nothings in the stationery room, the survey by Virgin Mobile reveals that texting while drunk is fast becoming the major cause of festive flirting faux pas.
33% of mobile users have woken up with texters’ remorse to discover that they had texted their ex the night before. 31% regretted their candour the night before when they confessed their feelings to someone they secretly fancy. 42% of mobile users have confessed to reaching for their mobile phone the next morning when trying to piece together their actions from the night before by checking the calls made and texts sent.
The survey also revealed that 63% of mobile users have admitted to sending ‘mistexts’, that is, sending text messages accidentally to people they shouldn’t have.
Virgin Mobile’s findings show the classic symptoms of ‘intextication’:
- 42% of men engage in festive flirting by sending a text message to someone they secretly fancy when they are drunk – women are not so forward, with only 19% admitting to doing the same
- 30% of women are struck by ‘ex-texting’ – sending a message to a former partner
- 82% of 18-29 year olds admit to sending saucy text messages whilst drunk
- 4% of men admit to sending a text to the boss when drunk
- 11% of texters have sent texts they shouldn’t have to a friend’s boyfriend or girlfriend when drunk
Steven Day, corporate affairs director at Virgin Mobile, said: “There is always an increase in texting over the Christmas period, as there is in socialising generally, and Britons will send up to 80 million texts each day during December. We had a sneaky suspicion that some of that might have been down to people being text tipsy – which our research has proven. With our standard text rate of just three pence to another Virgin Mobile, texting is a cheap way of keeping in touch at Christmas – even if it is to send an apology the next day!”
Notes to editors
* Research supplied by YouGov
** Volume of text traffic supplied by Mobile Data Association,
www.mda-mobiledata.org
For further information please contact:
| Virgin Mobile | |
| Virgin Mobile Press Office: | 0845 600 6272 or press.office@virginmobile.com |
| Joanne Baker: | 07941 233300 or joanne.baker@virginmobile.com |
| Henry’s House | |
| Krissy Knights: | 020 7291 3035 or krissy@henryshouse.com |
| Rachel Moule: | 020 7291 3033 or Rachel@henryshouse.com |
About Virgin Mobile:
Virgin Mobile Holdings (UK) plc, the UK's largest mobile virtual network operator, is majority owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and uses T-Mobile's network. Since its launch in November 1999, Virgin Mobile has attracted more than 4.6 million customers.
In the UK, Virgin Mobile phones are available direct on 0845 6000 600; on the web at www.virginmobile.com or on the High Street at approximately 5,000 outlets including Virgin Mobile Specialist Stores, Virgin Megastores, Sainsbury, Tesco, Safeway, Asda, John Lewis, Littlewoods, Argos, The Link, Dixons, Carphone Warehouse, Curry's, Comet, Phones 4 U, TOMO, Woolworths, Toys R Us and Rymans.
Virgin Mobile employs approximately 1,400 staff at three sites, Trowbridge, London and Daventry, and has an outsourced customer service centre operated by approximately 200 staff in Middlesbrough. It has been voted one of the top 50 places to work in Britain for two years running in an annual Financial Times survey.
Virgin Mobile's customers are considered the most satisfied in the pre-pay sector according to a recent UK survey by market researchers JD Power and Associates.
