Think Before You Drink and Draft

Rebecca, a 26-year-old New Yorker who asked to withhold her last name to protect her privacy, told ABCNews.com that she's still reeling from a recent e-mail escapade.

About six months ago, she broke off a relationship.

"It was an ugly break-up," she said. "The last contact we had with each other, more or less, was me telling him not to contact me ever again."

But, after a night out with friends a couple weekends ago, she ended up in front of the computer, extending an electronic olive branch to the ex-communicated ex-boyfriend.

After telling him that she missed him and wondered what he was up to, she fell asleep. When she awoke in the morning, she had no memory of the late-night episode.

Until she received a reply with one simple sentence: "Did you mean to send this?"

"It was so mortifying," she said.

What does she think of Google's new program? "I actually thought that's a good idea," she said.

Brian, 29, a graduate student in Chicago, has a similar story.

A little more than a year ago, he tried to end a short-term relationship that was moving too fast. He instigated the break-up but, much like Rebecca, went back to the proverbial well when he'd had a bit to drink.

He said he felt terrible when he realized what he'd done in the morning. But his regret stemmed more from a concern for others than from personal embarrassment.

"For me, it's more [about] not wanting to hurt somebody's feelings than it is [about] being stupid," he said, adding that those drunken e-mails extended a relationship past its prime because he didn't want to admit that he wasn't quite sober when he sent them.

But he emphasized that when it comes to work-related e-mail, he is extra-disciplined.

"My dad always said when you're at work, never send an e-mail that you wouldn't want your mother to see," he said. "I've heard too many stories about the one person who hit the dreaded reply all."

'The Age of the Digital Booty Call'

According to John Fischer, 26, a consultant with trend-spotting firm Infinia Foresight, more people should exercise that level of caution on the Internet.