Text Messaging Milestone
By: Jim Madalinsky
Updated: December 4, 2012
Last year more than six trillion text messages were sent and national reports are expecting that number to top seven trillion this year. Safe to say the text has come a long way from it's humble beginnings.
"Merry Christmas." That was the very first text message sent 20 years ago on December 3rd.
How times have changed.
"It's definitely my main source of communication because it's everyday between friends," Tyler Edmiston says.
But is that a good thing?
Dr. S. Shyam Sundar is a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory at Penn State University who has done multiple studies on the effects of texting, and he's come up with quite the comparison.
"It's captured people's imagination in the sense that its the telegraph of the modern era," Dr. Sundar says.
A simple text has come a long way in the last 20 years. Now with apps like Facebook, Twitter and even Facetime, it has revolutionized the way we communicate.
In fact Dr. Sundar says it has gotten to the point where your standard phone call is nearly obsolete.
"We do think of texting in place of phone calls because it's less formal so it comes without the formality and abstractness that comes with formal versions of communication," Sundar says.
While it isn't a face to face conversation, people are still keeping in touch with friends and family. It's just the strangers who suffer.
"It's true that we are much more focused on our mobile devices so much so that if you want to avoid eye contact you just hold your phone up and pretend to talk," Dr. Sundar says.
And if you take a look around a college campus these days, that quick fix is just fine by most.
"There's some people like my friends who are in college that we talk everyday and keep in touch so that when they come back we can pick up right where we were," Edmiston says.
According to Dr. Sundar, family communication is actually one of the big improvements that have come as texting has grown, allowing kids and parents to be more on the same page than ever.
"Merry Christmas." That was the very first text message sent 20 years ago on December 3rd.
How times have changed.
"It's definitely my main source of communication because it's everyday between friends," Tyler Edmiston says.
But is that a good thing?
Dr. S. Shyam Sundar is a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory at Penn State University who has done multiple studies on the effects of texting, and he's come up with quite the comparison.
"It's captured people's imagination in the sense that its the telegraph of the modern era," Dr. Sundar says.
A simple text has come a long way in the last 20 years. Now with apps like Facebook, Twitter and even Facetime, it has revolutionized the way we communicate.
In fact Dr. Sundar says it has gotten to the point where your standard phone call is nearly obsolete.
"We do think of texting in place of phone calls because it's less formal so it comes without the formality and abstractness that comes with formal versions of communication," Sundar says.
While it isn't a face to face conversation, people are still keeping in touch with friends and family. It's just the strangers who suffer.
"It's true that we are much more focused on our mobile devices so much so that if you want to avoid eye contact you just hold your phone up and pretend to talk," Dr. Sundar says.
And if you take a look around a college campus these days, that quick fix is just fine by most.
"There's some people like my friends who are in college that we talk everyday and keep in touch so that when they come back we can pick up right where we were," Edmiston says.
According to Dr. Sundar, family communication is actually one of the big improvements that have come as texting has grown, allowing kids and parents to be more on the same page than ever.
Charlotte Ames is the area's only local Health Reporter and brings you the latest medical health news weeknights. You can catch Healthcast on WTAJ News at 5:00pm and her Health Headlines report on WTAJ News at 5:30pm.