The Major Milestone Text Messaging Just Reached
Text messaging, something that is so prevalent in everyday modern life, just turned thirty. Without text messaging, we could not contact our friends and family at the click of a button. Students and workers could not hold a conversation in places where they shouldn’t, and where would life be without the “eye-roll” emoji?
The short message service (SMS) was launched on December 3rd, 1992, and the first ever message sent contained an apt seasonal greeting, “Merry Christmas.” It was founded by a programmer called Neil Papworth.
A decade later, emoticons were added to the messaging service, which made portraying your message through SMS even easier. Sarcastic comments are always picked up when you add a “winky face” to it. It was the iconic Blackberry and its ridiculously small keyboard that pushed SMS messaging into the forefront of society. Iconic 90s figures like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie were never seen without one in tow.
While Blackberries pushed text messaging into our lives, iPhones elevated emojis, making hundreds of varieties with more vibrant colors and sometimes movement. All of these technological advancement has indeed changed our lives forever. In the last thirty years, people have gone from having one phone in the house to everyone carrying around a mini computer in their pockets.
Due to text messaging and now voice notes, phone calls are being phased out. Even if you need to talk to a company’s customer service, it is usually through their instant messaging service rather than a phone call. From a recent survey of 1,000 US consumers, 24% of people prefer voice calls over text messaging.
While SMS and instant messaging are convenient. A lot of people still text and drive, which is so dangerous. It is a new habit, gained primarily in the last ten years as phone screens have increased in size. Messages are now easier to read and complete another task. Over 52% of people have admitted to texting and driving, which is somewhat alarming. So please put your phone down; reading a text message is no reason to go bumper-to-bumper with another car.
Along with making our lives much more accessible, you can also find your true love through SMS. Dating apps are the new way to link up with someone with similar interests in your immediate area. Once matched, you then proceed to send a copious amount of messages before the infamous first date. While for some, it may not be true love, “ghosting” or unfortunate dumping can also occur or, in “ghosting’s” case, not occur through text messaging.
What a range of emotions all through a short little instant message. Is it the case that text messaging has significantly impacted our lives more than any other personal technology released in the last thirty years? Sure we have social media to keep up with world news or, let’s face it, the local gossip, but what do we do when we hear said global affair or local affair? Message our friends. The possibilities are endless—happy 30th Birthday SMS.
