Text Messaging as we know it is called Short Message Service or SMS. The name or acronym SMS shows that from the beginning , the idea was to shorten words and our way of communicating. The phone, web or mobile communications are the tools that are used for SMS. Communication protocols standardization allows text exchange of short text messages between mobile phone, computers and other technical devices. The text messaging data application is the most widely used in the world with 2.4 billion users which equals about 74% of all mobile phone users. Short Message Service originated from radio telegraphy in radio pagers using standardized phone protocols which was defined worldwide as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications or GSM. The GSM was standardized in 1985 as a way to send text messaging but it could only hold 160 characters. Today, the phone standardization has spread to other mobile technologies such as satellite and land line networks. Most text messages are sent mobile-to-mobile although we have other technologies that we can use to send short message service. The first text message was sent over the GSM network in the United Kingdom on December 3, 1992 from Neil Papworth using a personal computer. He sent the SMS to Richard Jarvis with the text message "Merry Christmas". The first commercial text was sent in Sweden in 1993. The first company to offer SMS to consumers was Radiolinja in Finland in 1993. Most GSM mobile phones did not support SMS but Nokia GSM phone line supported user-ending of SMS text messaging. Growth was slow with customers sending 0.4 messages per month. One of the reasons the adaption to SMS text messaging was slow was because operators were slow to set up charging systems. This issue was eliminated and by the end of 2000 the average number of messages reached 35 per user per month. In 2006 on Christmas Day over 205 text million were sent in the United Kingdom alone. The above speaks about the history of Short Message Service or Text Messaging. I am going to fast forward to year 2011. I have known mobile phones since I was a kid and I have had a cellular phone since I was in the third grade at the age of 8. I do not remember, at the age of 8, using text messaging, I guess because I was learning English at the time or because my mom's carrier did not have it as a product offering or because my mom was not going to pay the additional charges. However, now that I am a teen in high school, text messaging is the way of life. Text messaging serves several purposes for me. It allows me to communicate without everyone around me hearing my message or conversation. It also allows me to send and say some things that I may not have verbalized to someone. And lastly text messaging allows me to use incorrect English because I am trying to send a message quickly or because I am lazy. In the spirit of this satire project in which I must write my investigative problem with 250-300 words, I will not use text slang, lingo or misspellings. In the year of 2011, some feel that text messaging has hurt our generation, which is America's future. We text words with omitted letters because we cannot spell the word or because we are trying to send the message quickly and because a text message is a SMS, short message service, we just try to omit some letters, which lead to shorter words. Are we dumb or is it just that it does not take all of those letters to get our message across? Maybe I was the last of the young people that learned how to spell and not have text messaging interference with my learning process in my English class. But given my English education and progress but I feel that text messaging has really become addictive and I find myself writing papers and talking to friends on the phone using text lingo or slang. I just gave my opinion, now I will present two divergent opinions. " In my opinion, it was a mistake for text messaging to be incorporated with cell phones because people have become lazy, using abbreviations, acronyms and Internet slang instead of using correct spelling and grammar. I don't know what or who's responsible, but the introduction of kids cell phones has made matters even worse. This is leading to a degradation of languages worldwide and if you haven't noticed, you're living under a rock."
"CONTRARY to popular belief, the use of text message abbreviations is linked positively with literacy achievements, according to work carried out by researchers at Coventry University.
Mrs Beverly Plester and Dr Clare Wood presented the findings of their research, conducted with 11-year- old children, at the British Psychological Society's Developmental Section Annual Conference at the Royal Holloway, University of London. The study explored how the use of text abbreviations might be related to the skills children need in reading and writing."
Bibliography
Mail, Birmingham. "Text abbreviations linked to literary achievements ." High Beam Research. 25 Sept .2006 <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-12501320.html>
Cunningham,RT. " Text Messaging and Internet Slang ."
Untwisted Vortex.12 Jul.2009
<ttp://www.untwistedvortex.com/2009/07/12/text-messaging-internet-slang/>
Cohen, Elizabeth. " Parents Do You Know What These Text Mean ." CNN Health. 26. Aug.2010 <http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/26/kids.drugs.text/index.html >
"CONTRARY to popular belief, the use of text message abbreviations is linked positively with literacy achievements, according to work carried out by researchers at Coventry University.
Mrs Beverly Plester and Dr Clare Wood presented the findings of their research, conducted with 11-year- old children, at the British Psychological Society's Developmental Section Annual Conference at the Royal Holloway, University of London. The study explored how the use of text abbreviations might be related to the skills children need in reading and writing."
Bibliography
Mail, Birmingham. "Text abbreviations linked to literary achievements ." High Beam Research. 25 Sept .2006 <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-12501320.html>
Cunningham,RT. " Text Messaging and Internet Slang ."
Untwisted Vortex.12 Jul.2009
<ttp://www.untwistedvortex.com/2009/07/12/text-messaging-internet-slang/>
Cohen, Elizabeth. " Parents Do You Know What These Text Mean ." CNN Health. 26. Aug.2010 <http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/26/kids.drugs.text/index.html >
