With more than one-third of the world’s population using mobile phones, it’s not surprising that all sorts of researches have been studying ways in which the young and old, rich and poor, have been using these devices. Texting (and mobile phones) carried cultural capital in and of itself – as a lifestyle accessory and a lucid resource. Irrespective of message content, the act of texting has cachet (to follow the cliché, the medium is the message) and necessarily communicates something about the sender/user.
And part of buying into the cachet of texting means drawing on – or rejecting altogether – symbolic resources such as ringtones, keypad covers, and popularized linguistic markers like initializes, clippings, and letter-number homophones. Technologically the context and constraints of texting, including its cost factor and were real worldwide until 2008 or so. It contained some linguistics features, for example, words per message, acronyms emoticons, and many others.
Its linguistic features also such as dialogue in nature (turn talking); language play and creative element of texting made it a formidable feature in texting. Text messaging, therefore, is a cheaper an alternative way of communication as GSM, who introduced the first text messaging services, launched it at a lower price, and the trend has been going downwards. Currently, most telecommunication services are reducing the price packages of texting, therefore, rendering it even cheaper at a time go by.
Text messaging also expresses some pragmatic features, for example, intimacy and relative anonymity. The essence of texting is translated into convenience, for example, President Obama, during his campaign, sent a text to the senators to inform them of his chosen running mate in the presidential elections. Similarly, texting applies in airports and hotels as one’s luggage could be picked from the airport and taken to the booked hotel, then the owner will be texted on its arrival.
In relation to widespread use of text messaging, most telecommunication companies have now come up with measures of standardizing the use of text messaging services by either giving out free SMS user services or other subscriptions of SMS services with cheaper costs and this has paid off as text messaging services is continuing to be the trend of most mobile users worldwide. Its advantages, such as attachment of media such as pictures and voice media, have enabled it to become a key in expressing emotions and have therefore made text messaging more populous.
The entry of advanced text messaging services that embrace the use of the internet has completely revolutionized the use of text messaging. The entry of Whats app, We chat and other internet-enabled text services; it has made it even easier for people to communicate using instant messaging and is currently being used by most people worldwide with the youths commonly finding it a suitable alternative as compared to voice calling services.
It is also evident that many people have chosen the use of text messaging not just because it is only cheaper but also because of its speed, ability to learn fast, simplicity, special characters and navigational features it possesses hence making text messaging the cheapest way of communicating.
It is not a surprise that the revolution of text messaging is being taken to another level and in the coming future, there is going to be a competent and uniquely designed feature of text messaging services that will outshine the use of voice call and other services and will be embraced by many more people worldwide.