The SMS is as convenient as it is a perilous medium

A defining feature of the Digital Age, the Short Message Service is more central to your life than you may imagine.

But, like all other innovations, there has to be a dark side to it

They would also sell, on the cheap, airtime obtained from unsuspecting participants in these ‘competitions and promotions’.
But the SMS is not entirely at the disposal of the devilish.

The technology behind it means you can receive thousands of shillings from a relative in London, pay school fees, settle your electricity and water bills and send aid to a friend stuck in Mandera. Think M-Pesa, Zap and other mobile money transfer services.

Besides being the easiest and the cheapest way to interact with family and friends, bank services, health and love tips can now be accessed through the SMS.

Unlike in the past when family disputes that happened during the night had to wait until after work the following to be sorted, a tactfully worded text message during the day can send a wide grin across the face of an offended party, forestalling a nasty eventuality.

“Sending her a cheerful or reconciliatory message during the day always works wonders,” says Kaburu Busunkwi, a father of one.

However, in marriages and relationships, the SMS is a double-edged sword since the discovery of a raunchy text in a spouse’s phone has become a one-way ticket to trouble.

The fact that the message service was among the data services that provided the bulk of the half-year pre-tax profits for Safaricom, the biggest mobile service provider in the country, speaks volume of the financial potential this technology.

Developed in the early 1980s from radio technology by American researchers before being upgraded to a global communications system, the SMS is the most widely used data application in the world, with 2.4 billion active users — or 74 per cent of all mobile phone subscribers.

According to Wikipedia, an online resource centre, 4.1 trillion SMS texts were sent in 2008 alone, making it a global industry worth over $81 billion (Sh7 trillion) at the time. The largest market for the SMS is Southeast Asia, with Europe and the United States following closely.

With 20 million mobile phone subscribers, Kenya hasn’t missed out on this big business either.
“I like it because it’s cheap, reliable and instantaneous,” says civil servant Moses Ndwiga.

Service providers have also realised the popularity of the SMS among the youth, for all their adverts related to this service are tailor-made for the under 25s.

Because the text message platform allows 160 characters, a new language is evolving as words are tweaked in order to squeeze in as much information as possible.

Although the informal SMS language has been, in some cases, blamed for bringing down English grades, this has done nothing to deter Generation Y from ‘doin ther thig’.

On the brighter side, the SMS has saved and spiced up lives.

Rescue operations and the fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria in Africa have used the SMS to reach their targets.

In a programme called “SMS For Life” piloted in Tanzania, a combination of mobile phone and digital mapping technology is used to track and manage drug delivery to health facilities in rural areas.

A similar service was launched several months back in Kenya, but it never took off in a big way like that in Tanzania. However, the SMS is being used in drought management and monitoring livestock diseases.

During Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake disasters, mobile messages were used to herd people into safe zones as well as gather donations from well wishers. SMS texts have also been used in the past to trace and rescue stranded mountaineers, sea voyagers and bush trekkers.