My faith in humanity has been restored after learning that the first-ever text message sent said ‘Merry Christmas.’ It happened on December 3, 1992, when Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old software programmer, sent the text message from a computer to his colleague Richard Jarvis.
At the time, Papworth was working to create a Short Message Service (SMS) for his client, Vodafone. And on December 3, 1992, he succeeded.
A year later, with Nokia's help, the message acquired a distinctive ‘beep’ sound that signaled an incoming text. Only back then, the process was called short message service (SMS). The word ‘texting’ entered the dictionary much later in 2010. At first, messages also had a 160-character limit. That’s why many shortenings like LOL and emoticons exist—to go around this character limit.
Even though it was a groundbreaking invention, text messaging didn’t take off for years due to a lack of handheld keyboards. When that hurdle was out of the way, the new habit quickly spread. Now it’s hard to imagine living without something that is a big part of our daily lives, which was created 33 years ago.
SMS creator Neil said, “In 1992, I had no idea just how popular texting would become, and that this would give rise to emojis and messaging apps used by millions. I only recently told my children that I sent that first text. Looking back with hindsight, it’s clearer to see that the Christmas message I sent was a pivotal moment in mobile history.”
Indeed, it was. Today, millions of Merry Christmas messages are sent every year. Instead of calling someone to wish them happy holidays (which was a preferred mode of communication back then), people now prefer sending a quick text, virtually, for any occasion and person. In fact, 40% of people favor communicating with their friends and family over text messages. Some even refuse to pick up calls altogether.
Younger people feel especially uncomfortable chatting with someone over a phone call, with some even reporting having telephobia. Gen Z, who grew up texting, can find phone calls anxiety-inducing because they induce a sense of urgency.
“It speaks to a broader fatigue with immediacy and urgency, where people have grown tired of the hassle culture and obsession with efficiency,” anthropologist Zoia Tarasova said. “People are quietly rebelling against this immediacy by taking their time to respond to those calls.”
