Happy 25th Birthday to Text Messaging, Text messaging has become such a dominant part of modern life that it's hard to believe the technology is only 25 years old, and that when the first text was sent, the recipient's phone didn't have a way to respond back. Yes, the first text message was sent in 1992 from Neil Papworth to Richard Jarvis, it's just that Jarvis's Orbitel 901 mobile phone didn't have a keypad on it. Oops.