Globally, cell phones have become the number one source of communication. Almost just recently it seems that nearly every young person, that being young adults, has a cell phone but does not have a landline. The text messaging function of cell phones has emerged as one of the most popular forms of communication (Duran, et al., 2011). The way in which people use cell phones has changed drastically. For example, in 2002 nearly 80 percent of cell phone users would talk over the phone. Four years later that percentage had decreased by nearly half to 42 percent in 2006 (Fernando, 2007). Text messaging had been the factor that changed the statistic; making it hard to imagine what the statistic is now. With all of the changes in technology, how people view conflict in their relationships should be addressed and to see how the text messaging function has contributed. Many aspects of texting have been studied, however, there needs to be more emphasis on the effects of how texting effects romantic relationships. Texting has taken the romance out of relationships in many different ways. Couples don’t realize that an “old school” gesture would go miles. Love letters turned into texting. Everything is done over the phone, and if a couple isn’t constantly texting your relationship is looked at strange. Past studies have shown that young people in romantic relationships tend to have more cell phone use than young people who are not in relationships. Relationship patterns seem to develop and text messaging is a large part of the pattern for many people (Jin & Pena, 2010). One aspect in any relationship is conflict. Conflict within romantic relationships seems to be the most difficult to overcome at times. One side of this this that I tried to get more information on was about same sex couples. To see if they had the same problems within texting relationships as males and females do. Unfortunately, I had no luck finding such information. Many problems arise in relationships such as lying, deception, disagreements, and arguments. Text messaging has made conflict worse by creating more possibilities for fights. Text messaging can cause people in relationships to feel trapped; their partner has access to them at all times. New expectations have been created through text messaging. A small device that is supposed to make life easier has only created more need for relationship maintenance in the long run (Hall & Baym, 2012). Another conflict concerning romantic relationships is honesty. Within a relationship there is the assumption that a person will be honest to their partner. Since there is this bond people tend to let their guard down (Horan & Dillow, 2009). People show difficulty in the detection of deception. Text messaging makes it 10 times easier to deceive one another because people are not able to utilize body language or tone as context clues. For instance, a person may be able to see the guilt ridden face of a person who is lying in face-to-face interactions. However, this fact is one of the many disadvantages and conflicts that arise due to text messaging (Goorha, et al., 2004). Deception is a problem in any type of relationship. Previous studies have shown that the medium we choose can influence a person’s willingness to deceive another. People have a much easier time controlling their behavior in text based contexts. A person’s involuntary actions such as facial expressions are no longer a factor in text conversations. Additionally, liars also have more time to think of their chosen deceptive message (Goorha, et al., 2004). People may not be able to see that a little a white lie can cause relational problems through text messaging. However, a lot of times people within romantic relationships will find out much later that they have been deceived, which makes the lie worse than if it would have been done within face-to-face communication. Why do people use the text function of cell phones as their chosen medium? Research has shown that people need to feel included. Mobile phones themselves have become such a trend that it would be considered social suicide not to own one. In addition, it seems that males and females use text messaging differently. Men are more task-oriented and women are more relational-oriented, which leads to common stereotypes of male and female character traits. For example, men are assertive and instrumental while women are nurturing and expressive (Kim & Jin, 2005). This fact can cause more conflict for relationships. Females may want to have a conversation where as a man may simply want to get the message sent and be done with it. Women are more involved with cell phone use for relationship maintenance than men. Women have also been proven to have more cell phone use in general (Kim & Jin, 2005). Past research has looked at different aspects of text messaging, conflict, and relationships individually, but work still needs to be done in the aspect of these area