Twenty percent of Britons have managed to send racy texts to the wrong person, and nearly one in 10 has been caught red-handed "sexting," according to a poll on Tuesday。

　　Under-25s are the most careless, with 43 percent admitting to sending fruity texts to the wrong contact. Men and women were equally guilty。

　　"Text and picture messaging has now become so second nature that people are less cautious, leading to messages frequently going astray," said Keir McConomy, Managing Director of SellMyMobile.com which commissioned the survey。

　　"A key aspect of text messaging is that it allows a more detached method of communication. This was part of its initial popularity and a likely explanation for the large number of people willing to send out explicit content."

　　The survey of 1,097 mobile phone users also revealed that one in five respondents fail to wipe their phones of personal content such as contacts, messages and pictures before selling, giving away or recycling their mobiles。

　　本周二公布的一项民调显示，20%的英国人曾将色情短信发给错误的联系人，近十分之一的人在发这种“黄段子”时被逮个正着。

　　调查发现，年龄在25岁以下的人最为粗心，其中有43%的人承认曾将色情短信发给错误的联系人。男性和女性犯这种错误的概率相当。

　　委托开展这一调查的SellMyMobile.com网站的总裁凯尔•麦克康米说：“人们现在对发短信和发手机图片太习以为常了，所以就没那么小心谨慎了，结果就经常发错。”

　　“发手机短信的一个重要特点就是让交流双方保持一定的距离。这也是手机短信最初流行起来的原因之一，也可以解释为什么很多人选择用短信的方式发送难以启齿的内容。”

　　这项调查共有1097名手机用户参加。该调查还显示，五分之一的受访者在出售手机、把手机送给他人或将手机送到回收站之前没有彻底删除手机中存储的联系人、短信及图片等个人信息。