Text Messages @ 20, What’s Next?

Happy birthday, Text Message. Twenty years ago Monday, the first text/SMS message was sent by an engineer in the United Kingdom. What did it say? “Merry Christmas.” The convenience may be handy, but I am not a fan of this technological wonder. No, it isn’t merely a writer’s distaste for the further erosion of language. More and more, technology takes us away from intimacy, from full-on, person-to-person interaction. Words have more meaning and are better understood when we can combine them with facial expression and tone of voice. Miscommunications happen more easily without those; the same words may be joke or insult, statement or question, indictment or satire. Still, you can’t stop progress. Text has come a long way/ Sholeh Patrick , Coeur dAlene Press. More here.

Question: Has the social media enriched your life? Or diminished it?