I still remember the day when it dawned on me that everyone, like even cool people, could get SMS messages. It was that tipping point when enough people had phones 24/7 and suddenly it wasn't a very nerdy thing to do. Pre this time, the idea of sending an email to ask someone out for a date for example was just laughable. But a txt? It was very different. Still to this day if you meet someone new and get "their number" it's the way.
In the UK I remember the first time a friend had one which was in 1994 when I was 17. A year later I went to university and in 1995/6 almost nobody there had a mobile phone, the year after maybe 20% of students had them, and by my final year (97/98) almost everyone had one - so in the UK I'd say the tipping point was probably 1997, possibly triggered by affording pre-pay mobile phones becoming available in major stores and supermarkets.
Just checked Wikipedia, seems that's right:
> The concept was further developed by Vodafone UK, who in Oct 1997 launched 'Pay as you Talk', packaging a GSM phone with a prepay tariff, and retailing it in new kinds of mass merchandiser retailers such as Woolworths and Argos and one year later into supermarkets such as Tesco (previously mobile phones had only been sold in specialist phone retailers). Customers could buy the product outright for £149 (reducing to £99 very shortly afterwards) which came with credit and then top up as they needed. Pay as you Talk went on to be the market leading prepay proposition in the UK for many years attracting millions of new mobile customers.
I was a holdout for another year or so, right up until I started trying to meet up with people in the centre of London at the busiest times of the weekend lol.
I was in 8th grade when the first iPhone was released, and I'd say most people got a smart phone while I was in college. I myself got one in 2012, a nexus 4. But I think for SMS, the point at which "most kids have a cell with unlimited texting" happened was probably at least around the 2010s. I was late to the trend (poorer family) and got an LG Vu in, oh... say 2009. And I think pretty much all of my friends already had phones with suitable texting plans.
But mind you this is high school kids, I have no idea about adult adoption.
Wasn't texting still super expensive up until the late 2000s? Imo texting didn't really assume it's recognizable quintessential form until you could send a text that was just "lol" and not be lambasted by your parents or spouse when the phone bill came.
I remember getting a reasonable amount included in my 1999 plan. I remember 1997 as the year my brother called and asked "is it safe to put a credit card number on this site called amazon?" and 1998 and the first year I got a cell phone myself, but 99 as the txt year.
