Is Text Messaging Synchronous?

Working with WebSphere ESB recently has got me thinking about synchronous and asynchronous communication mechanisms. I began to wonder about a mechanism that’s more familiar to most people - text messaging - and how it plays a dual role in usage. Let’s recap first on two other communication mechanisms that more obviously fit into one category or the other (perhaps ironically, a modern mobile phone can do all of these, including text messaging):

• Phone call - synchronous. You are engaging in an ongoing conversation with the other party. The flow of conversation goes back and forth at a high rate, and you have to be present when the phone call is occurring to participate (ignoring voicemail, recordings etc.).

• Email - asynchronous. You can send someone a message and it doesn’t matter when they read it - it could be in 2 minutes, 5 hours, or 3 days. The message can get to them via a number of ‘store-and-forward’ hops, rather than directly. When and if they reply, the same rules apply.

Text messaging, in many ways, is technically similar to email. It has different protocols, is typically used with different types of software, and has different formats. But it’s still store-and-forward and is still technically asynchronous.

However, I would assert that in many (although not all) situations, text messaging is, from a usage point-of-view, synchronous. The stories about teenagers who rack up £1000s in phone bills or develop RSI from text conversations across the classroom attest to that. Although they are using a mechanism which is by nature asynchronous, they are actually able to use it in a semi-synchronous way because it is reliable and fast. Whilst most adults’ use of text messaging isn’t quite so dramatic, text ‘conversations’ of 3 or 4 messages in fast succession each way aren’t uncommon (I have done this, although rarely, because I have large thumbs and find phone keypads awkward - don’t laugh!). Also, though, text messages are still used asynchronously in many situations (I don’t have any statistics on this but would hazard a 50:50 ratio as a not unreasonable estimate).

In many ways, this isn’t anything new - it has always been possible to emulate synchronous messaging with fast asynchronous messaging (arguably, this is what voice-over-IP systems such as Skype do, for example). But what I do find striking about text messaging is its dual usage role - sometimes synchronous, sometimes not. Often the difference is only in the perception of the sender - some people expect prompt replies, others perhaps not for days, and it all depends what one’s sending anyway.