"hey whats up?"
"nothing what are you doing?"
"dont know, want to hang?"
"yeah come over"

A series of innocent text messages or a new system of courtship? From teens 'sexting' to twenty-somethings dating via Blackberry Messenger, the cell phone age has ushered in a new system of courtship that makes all-night phone conversations seem archaic and written love letters resemble ancient artifacts. Why bother calling the object of your desire when you can simply send a "what's up" in a text message? Who would take the time to actually get together with a potential love interest when BBM-ing allows the users to message in real-time speed? It's like real conversation, right?

Wrong. Not to mention, with new technology comes new etiquette. Capitalization, word choice, time in between messages; even abbreviations must be treated with the proper manners. Time matters. Late night texts may be construed as booty calls. Number of texts sent in a row matters. Two consecutive text messages: okay, if you have a good amount of information to convey. Three consecutive text messages: you might as well write 'needy' on your forehead.

Then there are the actual texts themselves. I'm the first to admit that I have spent hours analyzing every character in a 35-character text. Was the typo intentional? What does he mean by 'hang out'? Is 10pm considered late-night or did he just get off of work? How long do I need to wait to text him back? If my response is longer than the maximum allotted characters in a text can I send him two, or--gasp--hit the send button and just tell him with words in a phone call? A piece of technology invented to make correspondence easier and mobile has only complicated our relationships and caused a great deal of stress in an already stressful environment.

Want to hear the rules from a more scholarly source (as if one even exists...)? Check out this article from FoxNews.com's FOXSexpert.

Lauren Mann is an intern in the National Campaign's Entertainment Media and Audience Strategy department. She is a junior at George Washington University, majoring in Communications and Journalism.