Will texting kill off Valentine’s cards?

A Salford University academic is questioning how long the traditional Valentine’s card will survive – and whether the less romantic but more efficient text message will spell the end of heartfelt handwriting.

To gauge public opinion and assess the impact of the text on more traditional romantic greetings, engineering expert Professor Nigel Linge is running an online Valentine’s card survey (valentinesdaysurvey.co.uk).

Nigel is asking the public whether they will be sending and receiving text messages or paper cards on 14 February and how both sexes and differing age groups feel about the two options. The results will determine how popular Valentine’s texts have become and predict if everyone will be pressing ‘send’ instead of posting messages of love on Valentine’s Days in the future.

Nigel explained: “In recent years Valentine’s Day has featured in the top 5 texting days for the UK, sharing that honour with New Year’s day, Christmas Day, GCSE and A Level results days. Equally though, the Royal Mail is still expecting to deliver 12m cards this year.

“So it will be interesting to see how the two compare and, more importantly, how people perceive sending or receiving a text compared to a traditional card. Valentine’s Day is particularly significant for this kind of survey – it was on 14 February in 1876 that Alexander Graham Bell submitted his patent for the telephone.”

Last month Nigel undertook a similar online survey to determine whether the public prefer to send and receive traditional Christmas cards or online electronic or e-cards. The results revealed overwhelming support for the traditional Christmas card and a significant thumbs down for the e-card alternative – with 68% saying they wouldn’t prefer to receive an e-card, compared with 8% who said they would.

“The e-cards at Christmas time were perceived to be thoughtless, impersonal and a ‘cheapskate’ alternative so it will be interesting to see if this is the case with texts on Valentine’s Day,” added Nigel. “I’m also looking forward to seeing whether there is a clear split in the responses from males and females.”