<p>The thumb-numbing communications format that has become a favorite of teenagers and created a language of its own turned 20 Monday.</p><p>The very first SMS (short message service) was sent Dec. 3, 1992, when English engineer Neil Papworth, while working at the English tech company Sema, wrote "Merry Christmas" on his computer and sent it to Vodafone director Richard Jarvis.</p><p>Since then, text messaging has changed quite a bit. We've gone from T9 predictive text messaging to full QWERTY keyboard devices such as BlackBerrys and touchscreen smartphones, and most recently, we can tell our voice-dictation services such as Apple's Siri to write our messages for us.</p><p>Text messaging has also gone mainstream, from being an activity exclusive to teens and young adults to becoming an essential way for many older adults to communicate.</p><p><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-talk-texting-turns-20-1204-20121204,0,2111937.story">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/messaging/8-messaging-tools-that-are-burying-sms/240143054">8 Messaging Tools That Are Burying SMS</a> (InformationWeek (blog))</p><p><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2018289/text-messaging-turns-20-but-dont-call-it-ready-for-retirement.html">Text messaging turns 20, but don't call it ready for retirement</a> (PCWorld (blog))</p><p><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/happy-20th-bday-txt-messaging-1C7378085">Happy 20th bday, txt messaging :)</a> (NBCNews.com (blog))</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dWw7qQ5FTw5TjCMt-IYTMO2OUZV3M&ned=us">467 additional articles.</a></p>