50 Times Texts Were So Funny That People Just Had To Screenshot Them

My faith in humanity has been restored after learning that the first-ever text message sent said ‘Merry Christmas.’ It happened on December 3, 1992, when Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old software programmer, sent the text message from a computer to his colleague Richard Jarvis. 

At the time, Papworth was working to create a Short Message Service (SMS) for his client, Vodafone. And on December 3, 1992, he succeeded.

A year later, with Nokia's help, the message acquired a distinctive ‘beep’ sound that signaled an incoming text. Only back then, the process was called short message service (SMS). The word ‘texting’ entered the dictionary much later in 2010. At first, messages also had a 160-character limit. That’s why many shortenings like LOL and emoticons exist—to go around this character limit.

Even though it was a groundbreaking invention, text messaging didn’t take off for years due to a lack of handheld keyboards. When that hurdle was out of the way, the new habit quickly spread. Now it’s hard to imagine living without something that is a big part of our daily lives, which was created 33 years ago.

SMS creator Neil said, “In 1992, I had no idea just how popular texting would become, and that this would give rise to emojis and messaging apps used by millions. I only recently told my children that I sent that first text. Looking back with hindsight, it’s clearer to see that the Christmas message I sent was a pivotal moment in mobile history.”

Indeed, it was. Today, millions of Merry Christmas messages are sent every year. Instead of calling someone to wish them happy holidays (which was a preferred mode of communication back then), people now prefer sending a quick text, virtually, for any occasion and person. In fact, 40% of people favor communicating with their friends and family over text messages. Some even refuse to pick up calls altogether.

Younger people feel especially uncomfortable chatting with someone over a phone call, with some even reporting having telephobia. Gen Z, who grew up texting, can find phone calls anxiety-inducing because they induce a sense of urgency. 

“It speaks to a broader fatigue with immediacy and urgency, where people have grown tired of the hassle culture and obsession with efficiency,” anthropologist Zoia Tarasova said. “People are quietly rebelling against this immediacy by taking their time to respond to those calls.”

In addition, young people feel hesitant to pick up a call because they associate it with an emergency. Something else that provokes telephobia is the fear of being judged. Experts also add that young people simply don’t have the tools and confidence to use their phones in a formal manner, which is unfortunate, as it’s quite important for their careers. 

To help combat telephobia, one college even launched a class where students could tackle their fear of making or taking telephone calls. Some businesses are trying to do that as well, but it’s hard to break a habit that many young people grew up with. 

“We have been doing extensive training, incentives, call observing with our veteran reps, and even hired a business psychologist,” Casey Halloran, CEO and cofounder of online travel agency Namu Travel, said. “After more than two years of this struggle, we’re nearly to the point of throwing up hands and embracing SMS and WebChat versus continuing to fight an uphill battle.”

That said, not all young people avoid phone calls like the plague. Erin Lynne Mantz, vice president of employee engagement at communications agency Zeno Group, has shared that she’s found herself on calls with Gen Zers who sound “remarkably confident on the phone, even more so than my own Gen X peers did when we were early in our careers.”

“Maybe we aren’t giving Zs enough credit,” she said.