First Text Message Ever Sent 20 Years Ago

First Text Message Ever Sent 20 Years Ago

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Monday marks the 20th anniversary of the first text message ever sent to a cellphone.

British engineer Neil Papworth sent the first ever SMS from his computer to his friend's Orbitel 901 phone on December 3rd, 1992.

The message read: "Merry Christmas."

According to Britian's independent communications industries regulator OFCOM, more than 150 billion texts were sent in 2011 alone.

The most frequent texters in the United Kingdom are 12-15-year-olds, who send an average of 193 texts per week.

The number of texts sent in the first half of 2012 is down from a year ago. Experts say the drop in texts could be attributed to the rise of social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter.

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