First Text Message Sent 25 Years Ago Today

We've come a long way!

It’s crazy how texting has evolved over the years.

British engineer Neil Papworth sent the very first SMS (Short Message Service) from a computer to a mobile phone to the then-director of Vodafone Richard Jarvis 25 years ago today.

The message simply read, “Merry Christmas.”

There was no “Merry Christmas” text message in return because at the time it wasn’t possible to send a message from a cell phone – only to receive.

Fast forward a few years later and we were sending and receiving messages through our cell phones but not too efficiently. Remember when you didn’t have a keyboard on your phone and you would have to press a particular button three times to get the letter you wanted? It took forever!

Then phones came with keyboards and we were sending and receiving dozens of messages every day.

Although texting is huge today, it actually peaked in the UK in 2012 and has been on the decline since. Experts say it is no match for speaking with someone in person.

“When you send someone a text message you often lose a lot of the context that you might get when you are speaking face to face,” social media expert Toby Beresford told Sky News.

“And that’s a real challenge for us in the new era.”

How many texts do you think you send each day?