The History of Text Message

series, see Pop-Up Video .A text message as it appears on the display screen of a smartphone.Text messaging, or texting , is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users ofmobile phones, fixed devices (e.g.,desktop computers ) or portable devices (e.g., tablet computers orsmartphones ). While text messages are usually sent over a phone network, due to the convergence between the telecommunication and broadcasting industries in the 2000s, text messages may also be sent via a cable network or Local Area Network. The term originally referred to messages sent using theShort Message Service (SMS). It has grown beyond alphanumeric text to include multimedia messages (known as MMS) containing digital images, videos, and sound content, as well as ideograms known asemoji (happy faces and other icons).As of 2017, text messages are used by youth and adults for personal, family and social purposes and in business, government and non-governmental organizations for communication between colleagues. As with emailing , in the 2010s, the sending of short informal messages has become an accepted part of many cultures. This makes texting a quick and easy way to communicate with friends and colleagues, including in contexts where a phone call would be impolite or inappropriate (e.g., calling very late at night or when one knows the other person is busy with family or work activities). Like e-mail andvoice mail , and unlike landline ormobile phone calls (in which the caller hopes to speak directly with the recipient), texting does not require the caller and recipient to both be free at the same moment; this permits communication even between busy individuals. Text messages can also be used to interact with automated systems, for example, to order products or services from e-commerce websites, or to participate in online contests. Advertisers and service providers use direct text marketing to send messages to mobile phone users about promotions, payment due dates, and other notifications instead of using postal mail , email , or voicemail .TerminologyThe service is referred to by different colloquialisms depending on the region. It may simply be referred to as a "text" in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, an "SMS" in most of mainland Europe, or an "MMS" or "SMS" in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The sender of a text message is commonly referred to as a "texter".HistoryIn 1933 RCA Communications, New York introduced the first " telex " service. [1] [ not in citation given ] [2] The first messages over RCA transatlantic circuits went between New York and London. The first year of operation saw seven million words or 300,000 radiograms transmitted. [citation needed] Radio has long sent alphanumeric messages via radiotelegraphy . [3] The University of Hawaii began using radio to send digital information as early as 1971, usingALOHAnet . [ citation needed ]Friedhelm Hillebrand conceptualised SMS in 1984 while working for Deutsche Telekom. Sitting at a typewriter at home, Hillebrand typed out random sentences and counted every letter, number, punctuation, and space. Almost every time, the messages contained fewer than 160 characters, thus giving the basis for the limit one could type via text messaging.[4] With Bernard Ghillebaert ofFrance Télécom, he developed a proposal for the GSM group meeting in February 1985 in Oslo. [5] The first technical solution evolved in a GSM subgroup under the leadership of Finn Trosby. It was further developed under the leadership of Kevin Holley and Ian Harris (seeShort Message Service). [6] SMS forms an integral part of SS7 (Signalling System No. 7 ). [7] Here[ where? ] it is a "state" with a 160 character data, coded in the ITU-T "T.56" text format, that has "sequence lead in" to determine different language codes, and can have special character codes that allows (for example) sending simple graphs as text. This was part of ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) and since GSM (Groupe Spécial Mobile) is based on this, made its way to the mobile phone. Messages could be sent and received on ISDN phones, and these can send SMS to any GSM phone. The possibility of doing something is one thing, implementing it another, but systems existed from 1988 that sent SMS messages to mobile phones[ citation needed ] (compareND-NOTIS ).SMS messaging was used for the first time on 3 December 1992, [ citation needed ] when Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old test engineer for Sema Group in the UK[8] (now Airwide Solutions), [9] used a personal computer to send the text message " Merry Christmas " via theVodafone network to the phone of Richard Jarvis[10][11] who was at a party in Newbury, Berkshire which had been organised to celebrate the event. Modern SMS text messaging is[ by whom? ] usually messaging from one mobile phone to another mobile phone. Radiolinja became the first network to offer a commercial person-to-person SMS text messaging service in 1994. When Radiolinja's domestic competitor, Telecom Finland (now part of TeliaSonera ) also launched SMS text messaging in 1995 and the two networks offered cross-network SMS functionality, Finland became the first nation where SMS text messaging was offered on a competitive as well as on a commercial basis. GSM was not allowed[ by whom? ] in the United States and the radio frequencies were blocked and awarded to US "Carriers" to use US technology. Hence there is no "development" in the US in mobile messaging service. The GSM in the US had to use a frequency allocated for private communication services (PCS) – what the ITU frequency régime had blocked for DECT – Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications – 1000-feet range picocell, but survived. American Personal Communications (APC), the first GSM carrier in America, provided the first text-messaging service in the United States. Sprint Telecommunications Venture, a partnership of Sprint Corp. and three large cable-TV companies, owned 49 percent of APC. The Sprint venture was the largest single buyer at a government-run spectrum auction that raised $7.7 billion in 2005 for PCS licenses. APC operated under the brand name of Sprint Spectrum and launched its service on November 15, 1995 in Washington, D.C. and in Baltimore, Maryland. Vice President Al Gore in Washington, D.C. made the initial phone-call to launch the network, calling Mayor Kurt Schmoke in Baltimore. [12]Initial growth of text messaging [where? ] was slow, with customers in 1995 sending on average only 0.4 message per GSM customer per month. [13] One factor in the slow take-up of SMS was that operators were slow to set up charging systems, especially for prepaid subscribers, and to eliminate billing fraud, which was possible by changing SMSC settings on individual handsets to use the SMSCs of other operators. [ citation needed ] Over time, this issue was eliminated by switch-billing instead of billing at the SMSC and by new features within SMSCs to allow blocking of foreign mobile users sending messages through it. [ citation needed ] SMS is available on a wide range of networks, including 3G networks. However, not all text-messaging systems use SMS; some notable alternate implementations of the concept include J-Phone 's SkyMail and NTT Docomo 's Short Mail , both in Japan. E-mail messaging from phones, as popularized by NTT Docomo's i-mode and the RIM BlackBerry, also typically use standard mail protocols such as SMTP over TCP/IP . [14] As of 2007 text messaging was the most widely used mobile data service, with 74% of all mobile phone users worldwide, or 2.4 billion out of 3.3 billion phone subscribers, at the end of 2007 being active users of the Short Message Service. In countries such as Finland, Sweden and Norway, over 85% of the population use SMS. The European average is about 80%, and North America is rapidly catching up with over 60% active users of SMS by end of 2008. [ citation needed ] The largest average usage of the service by mobile phone subscribers occurs in the Philippines, with an average of 27 texts sent per day per subscriber. [ citation needed ]UsesA text message on an iPhone announcing an AMBER AlertText messaging is most often used between private mobile phone users, as a substitute for voice calls in situations where voice communication is impossible or undesirable (e.g., during a school class or a work meeting). Texting is also used to communicate very brief massages, such as informing someone that you will be late or reminding a friend or colleague about a meeting. As with e-mail, informality and brevity have become an accepted part of text messaging. Some text messages such as SMS can also be used for the remote controlling of home appliances. It is widely used indomotics systems. Some amateurs have also built own systems to control (some of) their appliances via SMS. [15][16] Other methods such as group messaging, which was patented in 2012 by the GM of Andrew Ferry, Devin Peterson, Justin Cowart, Ian Ainsworth, Patrick Messinger, Jacob Delk, Jack Grande, Austin Hughes, Brendan Blake, and Brooks Brasher are used to involve more than two people into a text messaging conversation [citation needed] . AFlash SMS is a type [17] of text message that appears directly on the main screen without user interaction and is not automatically stored in the inbox. It can be useful in cases such as an emergency (e.g., fire alarm ) or confidentiality (e.g., one-time password). [18]Short message services are developing very rapidly throughout the world. SMS is particularly popular in Europe, Asia (excluding Japan; see below), United States, Australia and New Zealand and is also gaining influence in Africa. Popularity has grown to a sufficient extent that the term texting (used as a verb meaning the act of mobile phone users sending short messages back and forth) has entered the common lexicon. Young Asians consider SMS as the most popular mobile phone application. [19] Fifty percent of American teens send fifty text messages or more per day, making it their most frequent form of communication. [20] In China, SMS is very popular and has brought service providers significant profit (18 billion short messages were sent in 2001). [21] It is a very influential and powerful tool in the Philippines, where the average user sends 10–12 text messages a day. The Philippines alone sends on average over 1 billion text messages a day, [22] more than the annual average SMS volume of the countries in Europe, and even China and India. SMS is hugely popular in India, where youngsters often exchange lots of text messages, and companies provide alerts, infotainment, news, cricket scores updates, railway/airline booking, mobile billing, and banking services on SMS.Texting became popular in the Philippines in 1998. In 2001, text messaging played an important role in deposing former Philippine president Joseph Estrada. Similarly, in 2008, text messaging played a primary role in the implication of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in an SMS sex scandal.[23] Short messages are particularly popular among young urbanites. In many markets, the service is comparatively cheap. For example, in Australia, a message typically costs between A$ 0.20 and $0.25 to send (some prepaid services charge $0.01 between their own phones), compared with a voice call, which costs somewhere between $0.40 and $2.00 per minute (commonly charged in half-minute blocks). The service is enormously profitable to the service providers. At a typical length of only 190 bytes (including protocol overhead), more than 350 of these messages per minute can be transmitted at the same data rate as a usual voice call (9 kbit/s). There are also free SMS services available, which are often sponsored and allow sending SMS from a PC connected to the internet. Mobile service providers in New Zealand, such as Vodafone and Telecom NZ, provide up to 2000 SMS messages for NZ$10 per month. Users on these plans send on average 1500 SMS messages every month. Text messaging has become so popular that advertising agencies and advertisers are now jumping into the text messaging business. Services that provide bulk text message sending are also becoming a popular way for clubs, associations, and advertisers to reach a group of opt-in subscribers quickly.Research suggests that Internet-based mobile messaging will have grown to equal the popularity of SMS in 2013, with nearly 10 trillion messages being sent through each technology. [24][25] Services such asFacebook Messenger, WhatsApp andViber have led to a decline in the use of SMS in parts of the world.ApplicationsMicrobloggingMain article: MicrobloggingOf many texting trends, a system known as microblogging has surfaced, which consists of a miniaturized blog, inspired mainly by people's tendency to jot down informal thoughts and post them online. They consist of websites likeTwitter and its Chinese equivalentWeibo (微博). As of 2016, both of these websites were popular.Emergency servicesIn some countries, text messages can be used to contact emergency services. In the UK, text messages can be used to call emergency services only after registering with the emergency SMS service. This service is primarily aimed at people who, by reason of disability, are unable to make a voice call. It has recently been promoted as a means for walkers and climbers to call[26][27] emergency services from areas where a voice call is not possible due to low signal strength. In the US, there is a move to require both traditional operators and Over-the-top messaging providers to support texting to 911. [28] In Asia, SMS is used for tsunami warnings and in Europe, SMS is used to inform individuals of imminent disaster. Since the location of a handset is known, systems can alert everyone in an area that the events has made impossible to pass through e.g. an avalanche.Reminders of hospital appointmentsSMS messages are used in some countries as reminders of hospital appointments. Missed outpatient clinic appointments cost theNational Health Service (England) more than £600 million ($980 million) a year[29] SMS messages are thought to be more cost effective, swifter to deliver, and more likely to receive a faster response than letters. A recent study by Sims and colleagues (2012) examined the outcomes of 24,709 outpatient appointments scheduled in mental health services in South-East London. The study found that SMS message reminders could reduce the number of missed psychiatric appointments by 25–28%, representing a potential national yearly saving of over £150 million. [30]Commercial usesA multimedia message displayed on a mobile phoneShort codesShort codes are special telephone numbers, shorter than full telephone numbers, that can be used to address SMS and MMS messages from mobile phones or fixed phones. There are two types of short codes: dialing and messaging.Text messaging gateway providersSMS gateway providers facilitate the SMS traffic between businesses and mobile subscribers, being mainly responsible for carrying mission-critical messages, SMS for enterprises, content delivery and entertainment services involving SMS, e.g., TV voting. Considering SMS messaging performance and cost, as well as the level of text messaging services, SMS gateway providers can be classified as resellers of the text messaging capability of another provider'sSMSC or offering the text messaging capability as an operator of their own SMSC with SS7 . [31][32] SMS messaging gateway providers can provide gateway-to-mobile (Mobile Terminated–MT) services. Some suppliers can also supply mobile-to-gateway (text-in or Mobile Originated/MO services). Many operate text-in services on shortcodes or mobile number ranges, whereas others use lower-cost geographic text-in numbers. [33]Premium contentSMS is widely used for delivering digital content, such as news alerts, financial information, pictures, GIFs, logos and ringtones. Such messages are also known as premium-rated short messages (PSMS). [34] The subscribers are charged extra for receiving this premium content, and the amount is typically divided between the mobile network operator and the value added service provider (VASP), either through revenue share or a fixed transport fee. Services like 82ASK and Any Question Answered have used the PSMS model to enable rapid response to mobile consumers' questions, using on-call teams of experts and researchers. In November 2013, amidst complaints about unsolicited charges on bills, major mobile carriers in the US agreed to stop billing for PSMS in 45 states, effectively ending its use in the United States. [35]Outside the United States, premium short messages are increasingly being used for "real-world" services. For example, some vending machines now allow payment by sending a premium-rated short message, so that the cost of the item bought is added to the user's phone bill or subtracted from the user's prepaid credits. Recently, premium messaging companies have come under fire from consumer groups due to a large number of consumers racking up huge phone bills. A new type of free-premium or hybrid-premium content has emerged with the launch of text-service websites. These sites allow registered users to receive free text messages when items they are interested in go on sale, or when new items are introduced. An alternative to inbound SMS is based on long numbers (international mobile number format, e.g., +44 7624 805000, or geographic numbers that can handle voice and SMS, e.g., 01133203040 [33] ), which can be used in place of short codes or premium-rated short messages for SMS reception in several applications, such as TV voting, product promotions, and campaigns. Long numbers are internationally available, as well as enabling businesses to have their own number, rather than short codes, which are usually shared across a lot of brands. Additionally, Long numbers are non-premium inbound numbers.In workplacesThe use of text messaging for workplace purposes has grown significantly during the mid-2000s (decade). As companies seek competitive advantages, many employees are using new technology, collaborative applications, and real-time messaging such as SMS, instant messaging , and mobile communications to connect with teammates and customers. Some practical uses of text messaging include the use of SMS for confirming delivery or other tasks, for instant communication between a service provider and a client (e.g., stock broker and investor), and for sending alerts. Several universities have implemented a system of texting students and faculties campus alerts. One such example isPenn State. [36] As text messaging has proliferated in business, so too have regulations governing its use. One regulation specifically governing the use of text messaging in financial-services firms engaged in stocks, equities, and securities trading is Regulatory Notice 07-59, Supervision of Electronic Communications, December 2007 , issued to member firms by theFinancial Industry Regulatory Authority . In 07-59, FINRA noted that "electronic communications", "e-mail", and "electronic correspondence" may be used interchangeably and can include such forms of electronic messaging as instant messaging and text messaging. [37] Industry has had to develop new technology to allow companies to archive their employees' text messages.Security, confidentiality, reliability and speed of SMS are among the most important guarantees industries such as financial services, energy and commodities trading, health care and enterprises demand in their mission-critical procedures. One way to guarantee such a quality of text messaging lies in introducing SLAs (Service Level Agreement), which are common in IT contracts. By providing measurable SLAs, corporations can define reliability parameters and set up a high quality of their services. [38] Just one of many SMS applications that has proven highly popular and successful in the financial-services industry is mobile receipts. In January 2009, Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) published theMobile Banking Overview for financial institutions in which it discussed the advantages and disadvantages of mobile channel platforms such as Short Message Services (SMS), Mobile Web, Mobile Client Applications, SMS with Mobile Web and Secure SMS. [39]Mobile interaction services are an alternative way of using SMS in business communications with greater certainty. Typical business-to-business applications aretelematics and Machine-to-Machine , in which two applications automatically communicate with each other. Incident alerts are also common, and staff communications are also another use for B2B scenarios. Businesses can use SMS for time-critical alerts, updates and reminders, mobile campaigns, content and entertainment applications. Mobile interaction can also be used for consumer-to-business interactions, such as media voting and competitions, and for consumer-to-consumer interaction, for example, with mobile social networking, chatting and dating.Text messaging is widely used on business settings; as well, it is used in a number of civil service andnon-governmental organization workplaces. The U.S. And Canadian civil service both adoptedBlackberry smartphones in the 2000s.Online SMS ServicesThere are a growing number of websites that allow users to send free SMS messages online. Some websites provide free SMS for promoting premium business packages. [ citation needed ]Worldwide useEuropeSMS is used to send "welcome" messages to mobile phones roaming between countries. Here, T-Mobile welcomes a Proximus subscriber to the UK, andBASE welcomes an Orange UK customer to Belgium.Europe follows next behind Asia in terms of the popularity of the use of SMS. In 2003, an average of 16 billion messages were sent each month. Users in Spain sent a little more than fifty messages per month on average in 2003. In Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom, the figure was around 35–40 SMS messages per month. In each of these countries, the cost of sending an SMS message varies from €0.04–0.23, depending on the payment plan (with many contractual plans including all or a number of texts for free). In the United Kingdom, text messages are charged between £0.05–0.12. Curiously, France has not taken to SMS in the same way, sending just under 20 messages on average per user per month. France has the same GSM technology as other European countries, so the uptake is not hampered by technical restrictions.In the Republic of Ireland, 1.5 billion messages are sent every quarter, on average 114 messages per person per month. [40] In the United Kingdom over 1 billion text messages are sent every week. [41] The Eurovision Song Contest organized the first pan-European SMS voting in 2002, as a part of the voting system (there was also a voting over traditional landline phone lines). In 2005, the Eurovision Song Contest organized the biggest televoting ever (with SMS and phone voting). During roaming , that is, when a user connects to another network in different country from his own, the prices may be higher, but in July 2009, EU legislation went into effect limiting this price to €0.11. [42]FinlandMobile-service providers in Finland offer contracts in which users can send 1000 text messages a month for €10. In Finland, which has very high mobile phone ownership rates, some TV channels began "SMS chat", which involved sending short messages to a phone number, and the messages would be shown on TV. Chats are always moderated, which prevents users from sending offensive material to the channel. The craze evolved into quizzes and strategy games and then faster-paced games designed for television and SMS control. Games require users to register their nickname and send short messages to control a character onscreen. Messages usually cost 0.05 to 0.86 Euro apiece, and games can require the player to send dozens of messages. In December 2003, a Finnish TV channel, MTV3 , put a Santa Claus character on air reading aloud text messages sent in by viewers. On 12 March 2004, the first entirely "interactive" TV channel, VIISI, began operation in Finland. However, SBS Finland Oy took over the channel and turned it into a music channel named The Voice in November 2004. In 2006, the Prime Minister of Finland, Matti Vanhanen , made the news when he allegedly broke up with his girlfriend with a text message. [ citation needed ] In 2007, the first book written solely in text messages, Viimeiset viestit (Last Messages ), was released by Finnish author Hannu Luntiala. It is about an executive who travels through Europe and India.United StatesIn the United States, text messaging is very popular; as reported by CTIA in December 2009, the 286 million US subscribers sent 152.7 billion text messages per month, for an average of 534 messages per subscriber per month. [43] The Pew Research Center found in May 2010 that 72% of U.S. adult cellphone users send and receive text messages. [44] In the U.S., SMS is often charged both at the sender and at the destination, but, unlike phone calls, it cannot be rejected or dismissed. The reasons for lower uptake than other countries are varied. Many users have unlimited "mobile-to-mobile" minutes, high monthly minute allotments, or unlimited service. Moreover, " push to talk" services offer the instant connectivity of SMS and are typically unlimited. The integration between competing providers and technologies necessary for cross-network text messaging was not initially available. Some providers originally charged extra for texting, reducing its appeal. In the third quarter of 2006, at least 12 billion text messages were sent on AT&T's network, up almost 15% from the preceding quarter. In the U.S., while texting is mainly popular among people from 13–22 years old, it is also increasing among adults and business users. The age that a child receives his/her first cell phone has also decreased, making text messaging a popular way of communicating. The number of texts sent in the US has gone up over the years as the price has gone down to an average of $0.10 per text sent and received. To convince more customers to buy unlimited text messaging plans, some major cellphone providers have increased the price to send and receive text messages from $.15 to $.20 per message. [45][46] This is over $1,300 per megabyte. [47] Many providers offer unlimited plans, which can result in a lower rate per text, given sufficient volume.JapanJapan was among the first countries to adopt short messages widely, with pioneering non-GSM services including J-Phone 's SkyMail and NTT Docomo 's Short Mail . Japanese adolescents first began text messaging, because it was a cheaper form of communication than the other available forms. Thus, Japanese theorists created the selective interpersonal relationship theory, claiming that mobile phones can change social networks among young people (classified as 13- to 30-year-olds). They theorized this age group had extensive but low-quality relationships with friends, and mobile-phone usage may facilitate improvement in the quality of their relationships. They concluded this age group prefers "selective interpersonal relationships in which they maintain particular, partial, but rich relations, depending on the situation." [48][49] The same studies showed participants rated friendships in which they communicated face-to-face and through text messaging as being more intimate than those in which they communicated solely face-to-face. This indicates participants make new relationships with face-to-face communication at an early stage, but use text messaging to increase their contact later on. It is also interesting to note that as the relationships between participants grew more intimate, the frequency of text messaging also increased. However, short messaging has been largely rendered obsolete by the prevalence of mobile Internet e-mail, which can be sent to and received from any e-mail address, mobile or otherwise. That said, while usually presented to the user simply as a uniform "mail" service (and most users are unaware of the distinction), the operators may still internally transmit the content as short messages, especially if the destination is on the same network.ChinaText messaging is popular and cheap in China. About 700 billion messages were sent in 2007. Text message spam is also a problem in China. In 2007, 353.8 billion spam messages were sent, up 93% from the previous year. It is about 12.44 messages per week per person. It is routine that the People's Republic of China government monitor text messages across the country for illegal content. [50] Among Chinese migrant workers with little formal education, it is common to refer to SMS manuals when text messaging. These manuals are published as cheap, handy, smaller-than-pocket-size booklets that offer diverse linguistic phrases to utilize as messages. [51]PhilippinesSMS was introduced to selected markets in the Philippines in 1995. In 1998, Philippine mobile-service providers launched SMS more widely across the country, with initial television marketing campaigns targeting hearing-impaired users. The service was initially free with subscriptions, but Filipinos quickly exploited the feature to communicate for free instead of using voice calls, which they would be charged for. After telephone companies realized this trend, they began charging for SMS. The rate across networks is 1 peso per SMS (about US$0.023). Even after users were charged for SMS, it remained cheap, about one-tenth of the price of a voice call. This low price led to about five million Filipinos owning a cell phone by 2001. [52] Because of the highly social nature of Philippine culture and the affordability of SMS compared to voice calls, SMS usage shot up. Filipinos used texting not only for social messages but also for political purposes, as it allowed the Filipinos to express their opinions on current events and political issues. [53] It became a powerful tool for Filipinos in promoting or denouncing issues and was a key factor during the 2001 EDSA II revolution, which overthrew then-President Joseph Estrada, who was eventually found guilty of corruption. According to 2009 statistics, there are about 72 million mobile-service subscriptions (roughly 80% of the Filipino population), with around 1.39 billion SMS messages being sent daily. [54][55] Because of the large amount of text messages being sent, the Philippines became known as the "text capital of the world" during the late 1990s until the early 2000s. [54][55]New ZealandThere are three mobile network companies in New Zealand. Spark NZ, (formally Telecom NZ), was the first telecommunication company in New Zealand. In 2011, Spark was broken into two companies, with Chorus Ltd taking the landline infrastructure and Spark NZ providing services including over their mobile network. Vodafone NZ acquired mobile network provider Bellsouth New Zealand in 1998 and has 2.32 million customers as at July 2013 [56][57] Vodafone launched the first Text messaging service in 1999 [58] and has introduced innovative TXT services like Safe TXT and CallMe [59] 2degrees Mobile Ltd launched in August 2009. In 2005, around 85% of the adult population had a mobile phone. [60] In general, texting is more popular than making phone calls, as it is viewed as less intrusive and therefore more polite.AfricaText messaging will become a key revenue driver for mobile network operators in Africa over the next couple of years. [61] Today, text messaging is already slowly gaining influence in the African market. One such person used text messaging to spread the word about HIV and AIDS. [62] Also, in September 2009, a multi-country campaign in Africa used text messaging to expose stock-outs of essential medicines at public health facilities and put pressure on governments to address the issue.[63]Social effectsThe advent of text messaging made possible new forms of interaction that were not possible before. A person may now carry out a conversation with another user without the constraint of being expected to reply within a short amount of time and without needing to set time aside to engage in conversation. With voice calling, both participants need to be free at the same time.Mobile phone users can mail