Regrettable Texts in the Time of Covid-19: Most Involve Exes

Feeling lonely, drinking more, reaching out to people from the past: These are all things people in quarantine have reported experiencing these past few months.

What better time to ask them about regrettable texts they might have sent?

Basic Hard Seltzer surveyed over 2,000 people in early April about regrets they’ve had when it comes to texting (see the full infographic below).

Unsurprisingly, the biggest texting regrets involved exes (26 percent), significant others (20 percent), and crushes (18 percent).

It doesn’t always take the cold, hard light of day to realize mistakes have been made, with 62 percent of people saying they knew immediately that they shouldn’t have picked up their phones. 

That’s where backpedaling comes in.

You know, because you’ve done it.

It’s that followup text where you try to play it off like you didn’t mean it.

“Lol jk.” (Forty-four percent said the text in question was a joke when it wasn’t.) “OMG, how drunk was I?” (Thirty-two percent pretended they had been drinking.) “My sister took my phone.” (Twenty-two percent lied that someone else sent it.) 

It’s harder to pass off when you've sent a nude or a sext.

That’s something 64 percent of the respondents admitted to doing but 75 percent of women and 65 percent of men wished they hadn’t done.

That might have to do with the fact that one in five said they sent such a text to the wrong person.

It feels possible to die of even secondhand embarrassment when you hear something like that. 

One of the worst responses to a text that you wish you hadn’t sent is no response.

Silence has haunted 37 percent of men and 24 percent of women when they were hoping to hook up with an ex and 45 percent of men and 29 percent of women who were hoping to hook up with a friend with benefits. 

There is a lesson to be learned, and it is clear: Before you text an ex, put down your phone, take a few breaths, and do something—anything—else. 

Feeling lonely, drinking more, reaching out to people from the past: These are all things people in quarantine have reported experiencing these past few months.

What better time to ask them about regrettable texts they might have sent?

Basic Hard Seltzer surveyed over 2,000 people in early April about regrets they’ve had when it comes to texting (see the full infographic below).

Unsurprisingly, the biggest texting regrets involved exes (26 percent), significant others (20 percent), and crushes (18 percent).

It doesn’t always take the cold, hard light of day to realize mistakes have been made, with 62 percent of people saying they knew immediately that they shouldn’t have picked up their phones. 

That’s where backpedaling comes in.

You know, because you’ve done it.

It’s that followup text where you try to play it off like you didn’t mean it.

“Lol jk.” (Forty-four percent said the text in question was a joke when it wasn’t.) “OMG, how drunk was I?” (Thirty-two percent pretended they had been drinking.) “My sister took my phone.” (Twenty-two percent lied that someone else sent it.) 

It’s harder to pass off when you've sent a nude or a sext.

That’s something 64 percent of the respondents admitted to doing but 75 percent of women and 65 percent of men wished they hadn’t done.

That might have to do with the fact that one in five said they sent such a text to the wrong person.

It feels possible to die of even secondhand embarrassment when you hear something like that. 

One of the worst responses to a text that you wish you hadn’t sent is no response.

Silence has haunted 37 percent of men and 24 percent of women when they were hoping to hook up with an ex and 45 percent of men and 29 percent of women who were hoping to hook up with a friend with benefits. 

There is a lesson to be learned, and it is clear: Before you text an ex, put down your phone, take a few breaths, and do something—anything—else.