Text messaging on mobile phones has not only opened a new avenue of communication, but has spawned a new language and a world separated not by creed or color, but by thumbs and fingers.
Text Language
Text messages are designed to be short, and those who communicate by text frequently have found ways to make messages even shorter. Abbreviations and symbols abound in text messages, and many websites have even sprung up with text and chat dictionaries to help parents and others struggling to decipher this seemingly foreign language.
Considering most mobile phone contracts have users paying per text message, it makes sense to include as much information as possible into each line. Why bother typing "You've got to be kidding" in a message when UGTBK will work just as well? The essential part of communication through text language is that both parties are able to "speak" it.
Thumbs and Fingers
Some theorists are beginning to investigate the possibility that children and teens in the current generation are growing up native speakers of text and chat abbreviations as well as all manners of internet functions and communications. Their parents, teachers and most other adults speak "digital" as a second language.
The distinction causes communication gaps and leaves many adults struggling to understand what their children are actually saying to friends and possibly strangers over the computer and mobile phones. Students in the classroom send rapid fire messages to each other via mobile phone during lectures or possibly even tests. The same is true of mobile savvy employees during meetings and seminars. The more text savvy a person, the more quickly and quietly they can communicate with others.
As new users struggle to learn the language of text messages, the skill in sending the message is often an indicator of their ability level. Advanced text users type messages using their thumbs. They understand shortcuts and keystrokes and can shoot off messages with dizzying speed. New, slower users pick out letters with their fingers, much like reluctant computer users.
The Future of Text Messages
Text messages have become as common as voice calls on mobile phones. Many plans automatically include text messages as part of the monthly service fee. Predominately younger users already have grasped and enjoy the freedom text messages allow, and as the "fingers" of the world evolve to "thumbs," text messaging will become even more common in the fast paced world we live in.
