Jude

I know a lot of Americans (both in person and on the net) who still don't seem to understand exactly how SMS can be of any use to them. And here's the explanation I tend to launch into.

Well, over here in the Philippines, the supposed "SMS capital of the world" (5 Billion messages a month and counting!), people like SMS for the same reasons you like e-mail. You don't have to read and reply to it right away, and you have a little time to think about what you're going to say.

Also, most Filipinos are not as confrontational as some Westerners so unless they're really close to a person, given a choice, if they can avoid dealing directly with a person (like via a voice phone call), they'll choose the more indirect mode of communication, in this case SMS. It's considered more convenient and less intrusive to send an SMS because the recipient isn't forced to think of a response right away in real time or to even reply at all. A lot of trivial messages meant to express nothing of importance, or just to spread gossip or non-essential information are also sent on the spur of the moment, with no expectation of a reply. These frivolous messages are the type of things you wouldn't "waste" a phone call over, but would think nothing of sending an SMS for. If you want to tell something to a friend that you think he might be interested in but isn't important enough for him to find out about right this instant or interrupt whatever it is he's doing, then you send an SMS, which he can read and reply to at his leisure. If you just call and the other person is busy or out of range, all he'll see is the missed call notification, not knowing why you called. But with an SMS you can already say why you want to be called and when to call you back, i.e. "Call me later tonight about Dad's birthday party.

Group sending to more than one recipient is also another contributor to SMS' popularity, it's become indispenable for organizing parties or impromptu meetings or info brigades. As for the speed of input, well, practice makes perfect, and kids over here start texting as soon as they can read. A lot of Filipinos can send SMS without even looking at their phones. Our smaller fingers also help matters. And you'll be amazed at how much info you can squeeze into one message (and theoretically there's no character limit anymore since almost all newer phones support automatically breaking up longer messages over several short messages).

Besides, a typical SMS "conversation" here goes:
A: Are we watching a movie later?
B: (5 minutes later, after using the toilet) Yes, what time are we meeting?
A: (10 minutes later, after asking his boss if he can get off early) 530? I can get off early
B: (7 minutes later after checking the traffic report and the movie schedules, also via SMS) Ok, but make it 6. There's heavy traffic and the movie starts at 730 anyway.

See that if this conversation took place as a regular phone call, they'd be going: "Waitasec, I'm using the toilet" or "Hold on, I'll ask my boss if I can get off" or "Call you back after I check traffic and the movie sched" during several points in the conversation. In this case, you're still carrying a "conversation" but you have a break after each statement to go do and check on other things without theoretically interrupting the exchange. So we kinda use it like a cross between IM and e-mail. It's a more "laid-back" form of communication compared to a phone call, with less "pressure" to communicate between the two parties, but it's more immediate than e-mail.

A lot of people (especially the generation who grew up without computers) here have skipped e-mail completely and gone directly to using SMS since a cellphone is less intimidating and (for the simpler models) cheaper than a computer.