Women just can't keep it brief
As any long-suffering boyfriend or husband knows, some women just love to talk. Now research shows that females talk more than men even when communicating by text message. The study by Sheffield Hallam University found women write longer messages than men.
Women key in detailed messages, brimming with personality and affection, while men stick to brief, nononsense texts. Women also use abbreviations and icons such as "smiley" faces made out of full stops and commas more.
Dr Simeon Yates observed the mobile phone habits of hundreds of people. He found that female text messages typically go on for 82 characters, while men get their point across with just 68. Women offer their friends love and support, while men often resort to sarcasm, sexual humour and swearing.
Yates, who lectures in communication studies, said: "Women always start off by saying something like 'How are you?' and will finish with 'love' or 'take care' or 'with lots of kisses'. In between those, there are very often one or two sentences the equivalent of a large chunk of a conversation packed into one message. In contrast, when a man texts a mate, he doesn't even send a sentence—the message is information-based."
Text message diaries kept by the 18 to 30-yearolds taking part in the study also revealed that men alter their strategy when sending texts to women. When trying to stoke a romance, men send longer, more expressive messages.