2 TXT or not 2 TXT: College students’ reports of when text messaging is social breach

•College students assessed text messaging scenarios for social acceptability.•College students reported engaging in text messaging in scenarios they rated as socially unacceptable.•Versus creating a new culture, text messaging appears to be associated with violating social norms.

Evidence suggests that those who engage in text messaging, particularly young individuals, tend to text in what many people may deem socially inappropriate or odd situations, such as while speaking face-to-face with someone else, while at work, while in the shower, or even while having sex. The present study investigates whether young texters are creating a new etiquette where these are socially acceptable practices or whether they deem these practices to be social breaches, but do it anyway. The data support the latter; college students report texting in many situations they did not deem socially acceptable. The importance of texting to this generation and future research directions are discussed.