We often hear of studies that come up with conclusions that are somewhat amusing to say the least but wait till you hear the latest.
Apparently men have become so affectionate with each other in their text messages that a new generation of “Metrotextuals” is being born. Bet you’re wondering what that means?
Well according to a research study by T Mobile, nearly a quarter of men (22 percent) regularly include a kiss on texts to their friends, T-Mobile said in an emailed statement.
All ages of men do it but in the 18 to 24 year old age group a whopping 75 percent regularly seal their text messages with an x. In the over 55 age group one in ten have become partial to the habit.
It’s not only close friends that get the virtual kiss either, nearly a quarter of the younger age group will also send a kiss in text messages to other male friends they aren’t particularly close to.
The research also revealed that there’s an etiquette regarding the type or number of x’s displayed in the text.
A simple lower case x is the most common as 52 percent of those polled opted for that compared to 17 percent who went all out for the upper case X and only one in three regularly used several lower case x’s.
So what’s going on here?
According to Clinical Psychologist Ron Bracey, men have been reluctant to share their emotions so don’t express their feelings openly in speech and text messages have given them a way to say how they feel.
“The advent of mobile phones and social media means more communication is done non-verbally and through this it seems men can more easily share their feelings with others – especially their male friends,” Mr Bracey said in the statement.
One self confessed Metrotextual, Nick Kirkham, a 25 year old that works in insurance said that he and his mates have been sending kisses to each other for years.
“In fact, apart from my boss or a work client, there’s no one I wouldn’t send a kiss on text to,” he said.
Personally I think it’s just a way of showing that there is no hostility, I mean we all know that text messages can be massively misunderstood so putting a simple x at the end kind of says “hey, it’s cool”.
Perhaps you’ll disagree but I can’t help but think that much ado is being made about nothing.
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