Blame big fingers, tired eyes or other distractions, but odds are you've sent a text or tweet to someone accidentally. It happens to all of us, from text-addicted teenagers to businesspeople on a BlackBerry.
About 40 percent of texters admit they've accidentally sent a text to the wrong person, and 10 percent say they do it once a month, according to research by the makers of TextPlus, a smartphone app.
Mistakenly replying to an incoming message and clicking the wrong person on your contact list are common errors.
"I was trying to hit on a girl named Kelly via text one time. My boss' name is Kelly, and I almost sent it to her. I changed her name to 'boss' after that," said Eric Swenson, a 21-year-old student.
Swenson hasn't always caught his mistakes, though, and has been left staring at his phone screen at a disparaging message he fired away to the wrong recipient.
"If you recognize it right away, say, 'Sorry, wrong person,'" said Drew Olanoff, the "textpert" and community director for TextPlus. "You don't want them wondering, 'Was this for me?' They'll understand. It happens to everybody."
Even innocent texts can be problematic when they end up in your co-worker's or your grandmother's inbox. Humor sites have made such texts an Internet meme, posting thousands of screenshots people have submitted of their uncomfortable exchanges from texting mistakes.
"If everyone just took a moment to re-read what they typed before they hit send, every one of the mistakes on DamnYouAutocorrect.com and WrongNumberTexts.com could be avoided," said Jillian Madison, who runs the sites and wrote a book with the funniest submissions. "Of course, it's easier said than done. Today, we're all moving fast, talking fast and communicating fast. The downside to that is it leads to mistakes, often with dire consequences."
