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Text Messaging & Technology

Writing as a Cultural Act - Final Essay TEXTMESSAGING

When the very first cave dwellers carved figures and symbols on a cave wall, man has been developing different forms of communication. Our communication evolved into two distinct forms written and oral and it continues to evolve even today. The latest advancements in technology have allowed mans ability to communicate with one another to evolve yet again. Text messaging is a result of this latest form of evolution. I believe that text messaging is neither a form of written communication or a form of oral communication but a hybrid, a new form of communication.

In order for one to understand text messaging, one must look at the early forms of letter writing. Letter writing was always considered as a written conversation. Prior to the eighteenth and nineteenth century letter writing was a formal affair and it was written in Latin. In the eighteen and nineteenth century a new form of letter writing emerged and as Christian Furhtegott Gellert (1715-1769) so eloquently describes it, " When I write, I do it only as if I were speaking, and I must not drive the natural to the revolting." So now the letter had evolved into something that was natural and clear. At the time sending a letter was costly so one would use the letter to convey their intimate thoughts and feelings, affairs of the heart, or insights into theirs souls to a specific person. As the cost of sending a letter became less expensive the letters became shorter and the information in the letter did not always have to be serious in nature. The post card actually foretold the end of the letter writing era, and gave us a glimpse into the future. The post card in essence became the first text message without the technology. These small pieces of card board would allow us to send short messages to friends telling them where we were, how we were doing and when we would see them next.

At the same time that written communication was evolving, oral...