Happy Birthday SMS

It was twenty years ago today [No, this isn't a Sergeant Pepper track!] that the first experimental SMS text message was sent. It said "Merry Christmas" and was sent by Neil Papworth, the British Engineer who developed the software. It was originally intended as a paging system for use in offices. No one expected it to take over from actual phone calls but it's now estimated that over 15 million messages are sent every minute... and that includes mine!

I love text messaging and the following are just a few of the reasons why:

• You can pass a message on without interrupting someone, even if they're in the middle of their dinner.

• You can send a happy smiley face to someone without saying a word.

• You can reply when you've got the time. That's why I'm happy to text if I think someone might be driving whereas I'd never phone them.

• You can send someone something like an address or a contact name and they don't have to scribble on a piece of paper with the phone under their chin.

• You can get a reminder from the doctor/dentist/hospital/garage about an appointment so you've no excuses for forgetting.

What are your favourite reasons for text messaging? And if you've never tried it then why not give it a go. Even Mr A does it!