Over a Decade of Text Messaging

Maybe very few among us recall the very first local advertisement on short message sending (SMS) in the late 90s.

With a soft and melodramatic instrumental music on the background, two young urban professionals, a male and a female, were exchanging SMS via their unordinary (read: not analog) mobile phones. Seconds later, they meet and communicate through sign language.

Originally designed for the speech- and hearing-impaired,[1] SMS used to be a free service offered by Globe to its post-paid subscribers. Though SMS usage picked up late worldwide, Filipinos became addicted to texting not too long after this first local advertisement came out. For a time, mobile unit ownership became a status symbol in Philippine society and text messaging was a hobby associated with the ABC crowd. But with the flooding of mobile unit models that seem to come out every six months, exchanging text messages became available for all social classes, to the point that some consider a cellphone as a basic commodity among Filipino families by the turn of the millennium. It was subjected to government regulation due to the pervasive effects of its increased usage. In the latest State of the Nation Address, it was even made as a development indicator and/or government program by the President.

At present, many mobile phone features have cropped up, but SMS remains to be the most commonly used, and maybe the most important and controversial, of them. For a number of times, text messaging made it to the headlines of modern history:

• In 2001, the “GO TO EDSA” text message eventually led to the toppling of a President of the Texting Capital of the World;[2]
• In 2002, Hitotsubashi University in Japan failed 26 students for receiving exam answers on their cell phones, while in Taiwan, questions from students taking a university admissions exam were caught being sent to a man, who wanted to use the questions to start a school to train students for the test;[3]
• In 2003, telecom company Telekom South Africa allowed the world to greet Nelson Mandela, the most admired and inspiring political leader, on his birthday, through text messaging, proceeds of which went to Mr. Mandela’s foundation for children’s rights;[4]
• In 2004, the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium branded text messaging as an addictive habit and this study was later confirmed by the Queensland University in Australia, which described the habit as "the equivalent in addictiveness to cigarette smoking.";[5]
• In 2005, students were disqualified from exams in England for malpractice (i.e., cheating) involving mobile phones;[6]
• In 2006, Finland Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (dubbed as Finland’s Sexiest Man) allegedly broke up with his girlfriend with the infamous “IT’S OVER” text message;[7]
• In 2007, the first text message only book (“The Last Messages”) was published by a Finnish author, telling the story of a fictitious information-technology executive in Finland who resigns from his job and travels throughout Europe and India, keeping in touch with his friends and relatives only through text messages.;[8] and
• In early 2008, text messaging played a primary role in the implication of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in an SMS sex scandal[9] and in forcing New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to resign for being involved in a prostitution ring, after being identified as “Client No. 9” of a prostitute identified to be “Kristen”.[10]

More than ten years after its commercial and international launch, text messaging continues to change society, both positively and negatively.

The RAC Foundation’s study reveals that despite the fact that a motorist who is texting is significantly more impaired than a motorist at the legal limit for alcohol, 48% of 18 to 24-year-olds admitted to texting while driving.[11] In the Philippines, the latest government data shows similar results -- more road accidents are caused by texting while driving than those caused by being drunk while driving. As a knee-jerk reaction (and hopefully, they go beyond that), Congress announced that it shall be passing legislation to curb this occurence.

In England, parents wished to be updated by school administrators about their children’s progress through text.[12] It is worthy to note that in the Philippines, the Ateneo de Manila Grade School and High School Departments have been texting school announcements and updates to subscribed parents and guardians since the start of this school year.

Like any other device, text messaging is a neutral tool, which could either be utilized to improve life or to contribute to its demise. How text messaging will further change the society in the future is really dependent now on how people will make use of it.

(for the week 14 to 20 September 2008)

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[1] http://www.wikipedia.org

[2] Burton, Sandra. “People Power Redux” (http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/2001/0129/cover1.html)

[3] “Students dial up trouble in new twist to cheating” (http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=34945&CFID=3922618&CFTOKEN=23513501)

[4] http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2003/07/001167.htm

[5] Bogert, John. “Txt msg slang slipping into English” (http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_9262693)

[6] Exams ban for mobile phone users (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4448167.stm)

[7] Scuitto and Livingstone, “Text-Message Scandals Sink U.S. Politicians, Save European Ones?” : Finnish Foreign Minister's Approval Ratings Rise After Steamy Texts Released (http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=4514197&page=1)

[8] Text message novel published in Finland: Story about traveling former IT executive staying in touch only through IMs (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16790277/)

[9] Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Christine Beatty In Sex SMS Scandal (http://www.huliq.com/48240/detroit-mayor-kwame-kilpatrick-christine-beatty-sex-sms-scandal)

[10] “Call for Spitzer’s Resignation as Details Emerged” (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88094617)

[11] “Text Driving ‘Worse than Drink’” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7621644.stm)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7610028.stm