Thursday, April 22, 2010

tExTiNg PaRt TwO: Where do we stand?

Thanks for following, Gwyn and Kate! That's awesome :)

If you missed Part One: Intro, you can click HERE to read it.

So, before I got more into texting, I wanted to know more about how it started, and where we stand now.

Texting was originally called "SMS", or "Short Message Service". It started in 1992, when a test engineer for Airwide Solutions named Neil Papworth sent “Merry Christmas” from a computer to the phone of Richard Jarvis.

Growth was slow at first. In 1995, the average number of daily messages in America was .4. Yeah, not four. POINT four. In 2000, the average number had risen to 35. Then in 2008, the average number of monthly text messages was 357.

Now, the average number of texts sent monthly in teens is 2272. (However, if you divide that out, that's only an average of about 75 texts per day. Bad, but not THAT bad XD) The number of text messages far outweigh the number of calls, even in most adults.

But how does texting affect us? I'm gonna get to that more later in The Good and then The Bad, but I will say this: Studies and statistics show that it’s addicting and can cause focus issues when one is so constantly connected.

Bummer -_-

Not that I have to worry about any of this anymore since my texting has been suspended XD But here's an interesting piece of information for you...

Did you know it's possible to text phones without having texting? Can you say...Gmail's etexting? >:D If you want more on that, you can email me (livinglovinglaughinglearning@gmail.com) ;)

Stay tuned for Part 3: The Good.

~Kendra

2 comments:

emily said...

Great post! I HAVE no idea how to text. I'm really slow at pressing the buttons:]

Hannah Renee said...

I love texting!!!