A Surprising Usage of SMS Text Messaging

The other day, while on my way to grab some lunch – I received a text message from a friend of mine. She was meeting up with a few other friends at a local café, and invited me to join. What perfect timing! As we were enjoying the sunshine on the patio, my phone rang. I looked down and saw an unfamiliar number, so of course I declined the call. The last thing I needed was to take another marketing call and interrupt our lunch; we have voicemail for a reason, right?

Man Smiling While Looking At His Cell Phone

Technology is everywhere we look nowadays. Our cell phones are often not further than an arm’s reach at any given time. They are our main form of communication whether making calls or sending messages, and our cell phones are full of apps for ordering food, checking our bank account balances, tracking our fitness journeys – and everything in between.

There is an app or a function on our cell phones for everything, it seems.

While these apps and cell phone functions make our everyday lives more convenient, they are benefiting companies and businesses as well. For example, our preferred banking apps offer the ability to perform routine transactions easily, which is allowing the bank’s staff to have more time to devote to more complex transactions, or even bring in new customers.

Whenever a new app or cell phone function is brought to my attention, I’m still impressed. Between accumulating points on purchases, paying my bills online, and even those friendly reminders that I need to visit the gym again – technology is advancing, and it only makes sense to keep up with it.

Over lunch, my friends and I discussed all of these new apps and cell phone features, even reminiscing about how easy it was to communicate when we were younger and in school. In class, we could easily send SMS text messages to each other without our teacher knowing. Now that we’re older – we find that SMS text messaging is one of our main forms of communication.

Whether we’re taking a midday break at the office to send our loved ones a message, or even arranging plans to meet friends for dinner (or last-minute lunches!) – SMS text messaging is an easier way to communicate than making an actual phone call, and has become a vital part of our every day lives.

The next day was like any other day, except I had that nagging feeling that I was forgetting something. While at work, my phone rang and once again – it was that same unknown number from the day before. Being at work, I was unable to answer so the call went to voicemail, again. A few minutes later, that’s when it clicked that I hadn’t actually checked my voicemail messages from the previous day. I dialed in and the first message was from the phone call yesterday. It was my dentist’s office calling to remind me that I had an appointment scheduled for the next morning. The second message was left from the call I had just been unable to answer. Again, it was my dentist’s office leaving me a message – this time to let me know I had missed my appointment altogether.

I knew that I was forgetting something that morning!

Two phones calls and two voicemails later – I had still missed my appointment. I so easily respond to multiple SMS text messages throughout the day – yet it didn’t dawn on me to check my voicemail once. Not only had I missed my appointment, but the staff at my dentist’s office had spent time on the phone, calling me and leaving voicemails.

Having the option to easily reply “YES” to a simple SMS text message, would have not only ensured that I showed up for my appointment, but also it would have allowed the dentist’s office staff that called me (twice!) to take care of other (more important) tasks.

Alas, I am left feeling frustrated and having to take more time out of my busy day to call back my dentist’s office and reschedule my appointment. While doing so – I mention to the pleasant voice on the other end of the call how much easier this whole process would have been had I been able to confirm my appointment via SMS text message. To my surprise, she informs me that their ADSTRA dental software has actually just released this feature and that their office will be implementing it in the next little while.

And just like that – advancements in technology, and SMS text messaging – solves another everyday problem!