Text messages
What do you prefer? Texting or calling someone?
Read the text to find out if you are a typical teenager or not.
![]() 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 of mobile phones, tablets, desktops/laptops, or other devices. The term originally referred to messages sent using the Short Message Service (SMS). Young people now text so much they hardly ever talk to each other. Children and teenagers are much more likely to tap out a text than actually pick up their phone and call someone, research has shown. Texting has more than doubled since March 2002, and it's still rising. As of 2017, text messages are used by youth and adults for personal, family and social purposes and in business. 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 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 and voice mail, and unlike 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. |