Text Messaging Turns 20 Years....from 1 to 8 Trillion SMS per year ..Waoh

The first SMS was sent as a Christmas greeting in December 1992. Now we send 8 trillion a year, and it's the most common way for friends and family to exchange information – but it has its drawbacks

Long ago, back before Twitter, way before Facebook, in a time when people still lifted a receiver to make a call and telephone boxes graced streets where people didn't lock their doors, Neil Papworth, a software programmer from Reading, sent an early festive greeting to a mate.

"Since mobile phones didn't yet have keyboards, I typed the message out on a PC. It read 'Merry Christmas' and I sent it to Richard Jarvis of Vodafone, who was enjoying his office Christmas party at the time," said Papworth.

On 3 December 1992, he had sent the world's first text message.

Text messaging turns 20 tomorrow. More than 8 trillion were sent last year. Around 15 million leave our mobile screens every minute. There is now text poetry, text adverts and text prayers (dad@hvn, 4giv r sins) and an entire generation that's SMS savvy.