101 gadgets that changed the world

Alongside aspirin, barbed wire, bras, easers, fire, toilet flushing, microchips, floppy disks, light bulbs, laptops and iPods, text messaging comes in 76th place as one of the 101 gadgets that changed the world, according to Belfast Telegraph

76. SMS, 1992

Linguist purists H8 txtspk. The Short Message Service (SMS) has developed the thumbs of a generation of communicators who have devised their own shorthand, textspeak, to stay in touch (and uncover extra-marital affairs). The British engineer Neil Papworth sent the first (unabbreviated) text 15 years ago. It read: "MERRY CHRISTMAS". Their popularity exploded in the late 1990s and now in the UK alone we send millions every day (a record 214 million last New Year's Eve).

emily | 3:36 PM | News, Buzz |
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