The death of SMS

Ever since the inception of the internet, there has been a slow, relatively unheard of decline in the direct messaging services. A once prominent messaging platform, is now becoming eroded into uncertainty. This is through the advent of online messaging apps, such as WhatsApp or Imessage. The very need for SMS is being eradicated through the provision of faster, more entertaining and even cheaper messaging methods.

At its peak, SMS was on top of the world. People were able to send a burst of words without having to call, this very idea is what popularized the notion of an entire generation of mobile phones with built-in keyboards. As the act of texting rose in popularity, companies began to charge users for texting. Thus, the more the messages, the more the user spends. Furthermore, character count is also a restrictive value in SMS, the user is limited to 160 characters and must therefore choose to either shorten the message or get charged again for sending the remaining part of the message. A majority of these values are what spurred on an internet revolution, even leading to social media platforms developing their very own messaging apps.

According to the Economist, texting has been steadily falling in the billions ever since 2012, Deloitte, says the decline is expected to continue. Coincidentally, or maybe not, the surge in the smartphone market began in 2012 too. It was a game changer in terms of communication, because the internet had made it possible to send instant message transmissions travel over the internet. This, therefore meant that whenever users were connected to Wi-Fi, they have the ability to send messages to their friends, as many times as they wanted to, without a limit on their character count. In addition to that, in today’s world, the ability to send videos, photos, GIF’s and even audio recordings is all possible. The growth of Instant messaging has led to more dynamism with the worlds online infrastructures and how communication is received and passed forward.

Through the merging of online platforms and texting outlets, the need for SMS is pointless, to a certain extent. This is because, even the very act of calling can now be done in Instant messaging apps, alluding to the fact that people have a choice to talk to one another for free, and SMS does not allow that level of freedom. It is visible in the media of today, people have the ability to order food online, taxi’s online and even clothes online, it would be illogical for them to pay to text. Even though SMS is enduring a slow decline, it has not yet completely been wiped out. Largely because of it being the literal foundation that laid out the path for instant message. Plus, a lot of people still choose to send a text message when there may not be any Wi-Fi available.

Though, in an increasingly technological world, it is not common to find too many vicinities without Wi-Fi. With the technology world being as dynamic as instant messaging itself, the tools that carry out communication are under constant change. Therefore, the communication of tomorrow may be online, but with a different variety of today’s. Nonetheless, SMS is on its way out, and instant messaging is the new norm.