TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I/ THE ADVANTAGES OF THE SMS

1) On the technical plan

2) On the financial plan

3) On the social plan

II/ THE DISADVANTAGES OF THE SMS

1) On the financial plan

2) On the social plan

3) On the language plan

4) On the safety plan

III / THE FUTURE OF THE SMS

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Page 1
 INTRODUCTION

Communication is an essential element in the evolution of relationships between

human. It is in this perspective that Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) have emerged. Indeed, all the habitants of the planet are
connected thanks to a fabulous tool the mobile phone. The latter has not stopped
evolving. On December the 3, 1992, the hope of a new communication system
came when Neil Papworsth, a young English engineer, sent a message to his
colleague from his computer. This was the first SMS. Today the SMS is
acclaimed compared to the phone call and even more so by the youngsters .
Nevertheless, we are faced with an overwhelming observation: road deaths
increase because 40% of young people write SMS while driving. According to
these two divergent ideas, we can ask the following question: What is the
impact of SMS on the youngsters? To answer this question we will have to
analyze the following questions: How are SMS beneficial for young people?
However, do they have any disadvantages? What about the future of SMS?

Page 2
I/ THE ADVANTAGES OF THE SMS

This communication channel has a lot of various advantages. We notice for

example :

1) On the technical plan

An instantaneous diffusion : which permit a large and simple diffusion to a

thousands of mobile phones (for example if a person want to send the same
information to several people in a short period of time , the SMS permit that.)
In general the message arrive at his destination and is read in more than 90 per
cent of the cases : The mobile phone follow his user in most of the cases.

An unbeatable deliverability : It is known that we consult our mobile phone

more than 100 times in a day, so the SMS are read immediately .

A simplicity of implementation : He had the advantage of being simple and

concise which made him easily memorisable. That improves the efficiency and
the spontaneity of our corresponding to read our message.
A multi-purpose tool : The SMS can be used for a lot of different usage which
depends of your field of activity : Health, Trading…

SMS doesn’t require you to be at your computer like an e-mail.

SMS is a store-and-forward service :meaning that when you send a text

message to a friend, the message does not go directly to your friend's cell phone.
The advantage of this method is that your friend's cell phone doesn't have to be
active or in range for you to send a message. The message is stored in the
SMSC (for days if necessary) until your friend turns his cell phone on or moves
into range, at which point the message is delivered. The message will remain
stored on your friend's SIM card until he deletes it.

You can use text messaging subscription services to get medication reminders
sent to your phone, along with weather alerts, news headlines or even novels
broken into 160-character "chapters." Internet search engines such as Yahoo!
and Google have short messaging services that enable users to get information
such as driving directions, movie show times or local business listings just by

Page 3
texting a query to the search engine's phone number. Social networking services
such as Dodge ball use SMS to alert people who live in big cities when their
friends or crushes are nearby.

SMS can be easily tracked using the delivery reports. You are able to see which
messages were delivered to which mobile numbers.

SMS messages can be scheduled : to go out at a certain date and time.

Your message gets across in 160 characters or less. Short and sweet.

You can send bulk SMS messages from your computer.

2 ) On the financial plan

A very attractive cost : Contrary to a phone call which is expensive. The SMS
have some subscription which let us to share a lot of information at a low cost.

SMS let us to automate some of ours tasks : In Côte d'Ivoire especially,

electricity bills and water bills can be pay by mobile payment such as : Orange
money, Mtn Mobile money which use the SMS as a communication tool.

3 ) On the social plan

An interactive channel : This is an efficient way to keep in touch your friends.

A way to escape the reality : in fact the young man who didn’t know how to
approach a girl in the reality can do that with the SMS .

The SMS can be used as an evidence in justice : indeed a young real-Estate

negotiator used the SMS to exposed the sexual harassment whose she was
undergoing.

SMS is a convenient way for deaf and hearing-impaired people to communicate

The SMS can be used to Bridge the cultural difference by using the same
simple language
As SMS languages are widely use in different places, we can communicate with

Page 4
different people in different places using SMS languages and we can understand
each other.
The SMS is Personal. It goes straight to the recipient’s mobile phone. The
message is literally delivered directly into their hand.

At the end of this point it is clear that the SMS have a lot of advantages for
youngster. However there are some of difficulties which we must approach.

II/ THE DISADVANTAGES OF THE SMS

It is true SMS is an advantageous medium of communication but we can

ignore its drawbacks.

1) On the financial plan

Length: Text messaging when the content is lengthy is not convenient. A page
of a text message could contain 160, 140 or 70 characters [including spaces]
depending on the bit of the characters. Although you can send a multi-page text
message, the higher the number of pages, the higher the probability of delivery
failure.
Content: A text message is what it is; it can contain only text. It does not
support other media, including videos, pictures, melodies or animations.

Page 5
To be able to send a multimedia message, you must use Enhanced Messaging
Service (EMS) or MMS which is more expansive than a simple SMS.

2 ) On the social plan

There are three main disadvantages when people use text messaging.
Damage and destruct on relationships, and it can cause misunderstand easily.
Another drawback of text messaging is that it can not show people’s truth.
According to Lenhart, Rainie and Lewis (2001), people’s relationships are
based on individuality and intelligence. Moreover, text messaging can instead of
the real life of people’s socialization. Usually, people use text messaging in
communication on the Internet while after offline friendship disappears.

3 ) On the language plan

Furthermore, children who addicted to SMS or Internet chat mode have

trouble with their spelling. For example, students like to use language in exams
or reports. Therefore, children can not make sure which spelling is the right
language or which is not. Yet another disadvantage of text messaging is that it
will make the formal language die out in the future. There is no denying that an
increasing number of people like using SMS to communicate than writing a
letter. This kind of communicating way can change formal style. To sum up,
new language has several disadvantages, people learning incorrect language and
informal might finally die out. At the same time, these languages cannot show
the true self.

4) On the safety plan

According to an investigation directed by GMF (Garantie Mutuelle des
Fonctionnaires), 75% of young people from 18 to 24 declare having texted
while they were crossing the road which increases the risk of accidents. Then, a
survey directed by FORD shows that 56% sends SMS by driving. These are
worrying statistics because we know that texting by driving increase also the
risk of accidents.

Page 6
III / THE FUTURE OF THE SMS

Although the SMS is for the young people an important means of

communication It is less and less used. What could be the future of this tool?
We were able to notice that for 26 years the SMS didn’t know evolution, while
appeared new competitors as WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger and others. In
fact, the SMS have a limited size unlike its new competitors which use the RCS
(Rich communication services). This new tool introduce discussions of group,
vocal notes and multimedia messages . Due to the presence of this new way of
communication more useful than, SMS will be in a few years considers as
obsolete.

Page 7
 CONCLUSION

At the end of our work, we can notice that the SMS have a major
importance in the growth of the young people because of its numerous
advantages. However, the excessive use of SMS has apparently a negative
impact on them. Therefore, the SMS seems to have a double contradictory
impact on the today’s youngsters.

Page 8
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://graduateway.com/sms-adventages-and-disadventages/ :SMS spells end

of gd. grammar?’ 2008
https ://www.pewinternet.org/.../PIP_Teens_Tech_July2005web.pdf : Lenhart,
Rainie and Lewis (2001)
https://www.bibamagazine.fr/lifestyle/societe/sms-selfies-au-volant-les-jeunes-
ont-des-comportements-a-risque-60773

Page 9