Dear John letters are in danger of being consigned to the dustbin of history as almost one in 10 people has finished a relationship by text message, according to a survey.

Nine per cent admitted to having dumped a boyfriend or girlfriend by sending a SMS from their mobile telephone. Among those aged 15-24, the figure rises to one in five.

Philippa ’Sullivan, 15, from near Basingstoke, Hampshire, said her friends “find it easier to talk by text”.

Almost 45 per cent of the survey’s women respondents owned up to secretly checking their partners’ messages, compared to 31 per cent men. Three-quarters of 15 to 24-year-old use texts to flirt. The proportion of adults as a whole is 44 per cent.

The figures, from a survey carried out by Sicap, a Swiss messaging services provider, demonstrate how the use of texts in personal communications is on the rise among those of all ages, especially the young.

In March, 2.1 billion handset messages were sent in the UK, up a quarter on the same month last year, according to the Mobile Data Association.

Among those under 25, the survey found almost two-thirds had argued, 23 per cent had been stalked, 20 had dumped a boyfriend or girlfriend, and four per cent had quit a job by text.

’Sullivan said using text messages to finish relationships was common among teenagers.

She said: “A lot of teenagers find it easier to talk by text. I’ve heard of lots of people, including a couple of my friends, being dumped that way.

“You are not face to face and you don’t have to be embarrassed. I personally disagree with it because it’s a coward’s way out. It’s really harsh and heartless.

“It’s usually boys who dump by text because they are not very good at communicating.”

While older generations have not embraced the text revolution to the same extent, they have not been left behind.

Among the survey’s respondents aged 65 or over, nine per cent have sent a love letter, nine per cent have argued, three per cent have dumped a partner and three per cent have been stalked by text.

One in eight in the same age group admitted to secretly checking a partner’s texts. Stalking by text is a growing problem, with 13 per cent saying they have received messages from an unwanted admirer.

Emily Wearmouth, who works in public relations, received a string of unwanted messages from a telephone operator at a major ticket sales company from whom she bought tickets to a party in 2002.

Wearmouth, 22, from West London, said: “I had a friendly chat with the guy at the company. About a year-and-a-half ago I got these messages, ‘Merry Christmas’, ‘Happy New Year’ and then ‘Happy Valentine's Day’ from a number I didn’t recognise.

“At first I ignored them, but then I replied ‘Thanks, who is this?’ I got a weird long message from him telling me and saying he’d been trying to get in touch and how he’d love to meet me. It freaked me out a bit. I started to wonder what other information he had managed to get from their company computer.

“It carried on a bit. I considered reporting him, but decided to ignore it and hope he’d think he had got the wrong number. I use text messaging a lot because it’s quick, easy and cheaper, but now I’m more hesitant about who I give my mobile number to.”