In what year was the first-ever SMS text message sent?
Answer1992
Engineer Neil Papworth sent 'Merry Christmas' over the Vodafone network in the UK -- the world's first text.
Source: Wikipedia (2025) en.wikipedia.org
Tech · Facts & sources
Chat facts & stats
4 sourced facts about texting and online chat, each with the context behind the number. 4 more are in today's round and appear here after it closes.
The basics
As of 2024, about what share of U.S. teens have access to a smartphone at home?
Answerabout 95%
Smartphone access among American teens is now nearly universal, far outpacing access to desktop computers or tablets.
Source: Pew Research Center (2024) pewresearch.org
Going deeper
About how many messages were WhatsApp users sending per day as of 2020?
Answerabout 100 billion a day
WhatsApp's daily message volume had grown by more than 66% in just three years, reflecting its global popularity.
Source: Statista (2020) statista.com
In 2024, about what share of U.S. teens said they were online 'almost constantly'?
Answerabout 46%
That's up sharply from just 24% a decade earlier, showing how much more connected teens have become.
Source: Pew Research Center (2024) pewresearch.org
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