THE joys of text are playing an increasingly important part in the nation’s love life, according to new research.

Such is the impact of mobile phones, that they are determining our relationships — how we pursue them, how we protect them and, occasionally, how we end them.

According to a study by the London School of Economics, more than half of mobile-users aged 18 to 24 have sent or received an invitation to a date in a text message, while just as many have traded sexually explicit messages; and 53 per cent agreed that sending a flirtatious message to someone while in a relationship was a form of cheating.

For some, the classic “Dear John” letter has been replaced by a SMS along the lines of “I don’t want 2 c u”, with one in five under-25s confessing to dumping someone by text message.

Widespread mobile use has also led to a particular form of text etiquette — a fact that will come as little surprise to anyone who has ever wondered whether to sign off with a “x”.

Kate Fox, director of the Social Issues Research Centre,said that the abbreviated form of language used in text messages lent itself to romantic pursuits.

“With texting, you can have very brief, frequent, casual conversations,” she said. “When it comes to dating, a text gives you that chance to compose your thoughts, rather than having to speak spontaneously in a phone call with that person.

“Also, it acts as a kind of subliminal zone, an exclusive forum where the normal social rules are suspended, and that has a disinhibiting effect. People often say things in texts which they would never say in ‘real life’.

“Essentially, there is almost a whole new language, a whole new dialect; and a new unwritten set of rules is in the process of being formed. The rules of behaviour are still being established.”

Hillie Marshall, founder and managing director of Dinner Dates, an introduction agency that organises social events for its 16,000 members, said that mobile phones had changed the rules of romantic engagement.

“Nowadays, everybody has a mobile phone,” she said. “It means you don’t have to be stuck by the telephone, waiting for him to call. You can just get on with your life. Also, you can be quite brave with what you say via text.”

Mobile phones even provided a get-out clause for particularly disastrous dates. “You can pretend to take an emergency call, and make your apologies and leave,” Ms Marshall said.

They are also a means to less virtuous ends. About 14 per cent of those questioned admitted that they had used their mobile phone to communicate with someone they did not want their partner or family to know about.

Bel Mooney, The Times expert on relationships, said: “There used to be a time when you asked if he had lipstick on his collar or a long, blonde hair on a dark suit, but now all you have to do is pick up the mobile phone.

“A lot of people who write to me about the fallout from an affair have usually found out by looking at the mobile phone.

“It starts with an unknown number, or the partner can be idling flicking through an address book.

“It certainly helps illicit relationships in the beginning — I knew a man years ago who was caught when his wife saw him making a call from the phone box at the end of the road — but sooner or later it makes it easier for him or her to get found out.”

The study, which interviewed 16,500 people and was published by the Carphone Warehouse in collaboration with the LSE, also found that 54 per cent of women under 25 had used their mobile in public to deter people from approaching them.

On average, people send 3.6 text messages a day compared with 2.8 calls a day. Texting has had the biggest impact on 18 to 24-year-olds, with 51 per cent sending at least six messages a day. However, only 15 per cent had six or more mobile phone conversations a day.

Generation Mobile or Silver Cynic?

The study also identified six tribes or groups of mobile phone users:

Silver Cynics are affluent, married with children and coming up to retirement

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