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MYIQ members see the trends coming and are increasingly interested in text services that improve their social life. In fact, one in three panelists are eager for dating tips or cool meeting spots via text. To find out what teens thought about certain text habits, we asked them to comment on four trends that have hit overseas.

Time2Flirt
In the UK, bars have started to organize events where partygoers can meet people through text. When people enter, they’re given a badge with a number, their identity for the night. Without disclosing their names or numbers, texters can send pickup lines to each other on their phones through a central server in the bar. Just using the service as a way to break the ice, people eventually introduce themselves and talk directly as the night wears on.

So what did MYIQ think? A few members were a little leery of complete strangers being able to contact them. Others didn’t understand the need and wondered why people couldn’t just go up and talk to one another. Most of MYIQ, however, was very open to Time2Flirt.

“That’s a really good idea,” one member said. “They should do that in the US.”

This MYIQ teen’s wish might be granted sooner than expected. Rumor has it that Time2Flirt might hit New York bars sometime this year.

Marital Vows
Belgium couple Ronald Bollen, 39, and Ingrid Peeters, 43, exchanged marriage vows by text last November. The pair decided to go against tradition because text messaging has played such an important role in their relationship. Before their engagement, Bollen had been touring Europe for six months and messaging was the only way that he could stay in touch with his girlfriend. Then one day Peeters asked Bollen to marry her by text. Bollen quickly sent her his response, a resounding yes.

When describing this piece of news to MYIQ panelists, we received very negative responses. While a few panelists thought the story was interesting, most members considered the idea to be ridiculous.

“It makes their marriage less meaningful,” texted one MYIQ teen.

While the panel thought it was fascinating that text could play such a large part in a relationship, their current US experience made this idea seem a little too far-fetched.

Airtext
A new phone capability will soon come to the US that enables texters to type a message on their phone and then display it in a room by using their special phone as a projector. When they wave the cell back and forth, the message is projected in the air through lights found on the phone. Pickup lines, particularly at bars and clubs, are about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Out of any of the previously mentioned developments of text, this particular feature won the most approval from the MYIQ panel. A strong majority of members loved the possibility of airtext because it offered a different and fun new way to use text. Only a few didn’t understand it or its use and we’re pretty sure even those teens will change their minds once they try it out.

Jamtext
In Scotland, drivers aren’t bored when caught in traffic; they can simply strike up a conversation with the person in the car next to them to pass the time. Through Bluetooth technology, a person can be connected to other “Toothers” within 30 feet if they register the device. Scots browse for members, exchange a few texts, and then if they like what they see, exchange numbers.

Our panel was equally divided as to whether or not they liked the idea of jamtext. Many thought that the service would be entertaining while others felt that allowing random passersby to text them seemed a little too “big brother-ish.”

“You could get creepy people talking to you,” texted a panelist. “I don’t like that.”

The learning? With expanding technology and creative new ideas about to come to the US, text messaging might become the latest way to break the ice when meeting someone new. To teens, though, this new way of flirting and socializing should be limited to more intimate environments than the local highway.

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