I had a girlfriend once accuse me of "sex texting" with another girl. At the time, I wasn't really sure what "sex texting" was, but I see now that it is a growing phenomenon.

People are spending more and more time flirting through text messages than ever before, and why not? It is easy, less risky, more intriguing, exciting and everything else great that comes along with what most people perceive as harmless flirting.

But is it harmless?

I guess that depends. If you are single, then of course it is harmless (as long as you don't become abusive or rude). In actual fact the, texting can become an integral part of the dating strategy.

I remember getting girls numbers under the harmless guise of keeping in touch about school projects and other class related activities. After a series of late night texts, I was able to accelerate the conversations into steamy chats that took our relationship to a completely new level.

I could advance about 2-3 stages of the dating game without ever actually having a face-to-face conversation. So when we did finally get together, a lot of the awkwardness was well out of the way, leaving nothing but the awesome pure dating excitement that we all desire.

But what happens when the person you are texting has a significant other? This changes the game a bit, and all of a sudden, these escalating, steamy, late night texts become an issue.

Now I have heard many arguments about how text flirting is harmless, and maybe it is. But how do we know for sure?

I would argue that if you are having a text conversation with someone other than your partner, and would be nervous to share a copy of those texts with that partner, you are likely doing something wrong.

If your heart races a little bit when you see a text from someone other than your partner, there is likely something going wrong.

If you find the texts are starting to come from the person when they go out drinking, there is definitely a problem. When you become a part of someone’s regular list of drunken texts, then you are most likely a person that they are interested in. The texts will get more risqué, eventually your partner will find one, and the whole jig will be up.

In summary, I would agree that there are many cases where text flirting is in fact harmless. It is nice to know that someone thinks your worthy of flirting with. The problem is that unlike the pre-texting social arena, where flirting was limited to only a few social interactions each week, text flirting is available 24/7. This makes it more likely to become a gateway to more seductive conversations.

Just my two cents... What are your thoughts?