Hi all, Here in Australia the mobile phone has definitely become part of the everyday, not just for the young, but across all age/socio/economic groups. SMS messaging (cheaper than speaking) has become many peoples' choice of communication and this is obvious whilst travelling on buses,walking through shopping centres,shopping in supermarkets and at the movies one can constantly hear the beep tones of an arriving message and see many people around pulling their phones from their bags or pockets to check if it was their phone. I know people who will only answer to sms messages - not voice calls. Last year I was sitting with a class full of students (25 students, 23 had mobiles), and in the first five minutes at least three quarters of the class had received an sms message, it was a promo message from Telstra?? offering a cheap deal on mobile calls, those people with Vodaphone or Optus didnt receive one and were put out to be left out?? (needless to say, we had to ask them to turn off their phones) Another experience was in a social situation with a group of people (all had mobiles) at a party who were constantly sending and receiving sms's, to people in the room, having a private chat with sms, whilst simultaneously having public chat with others in the same room!! You can subscribe to free sms services on the internet (i.e.smspup) but you must agree to receive and view promotional emails to build up enough points to make sms calls!! Dr. Sadie Plant in the UK has done some research on the development of 'thumbs' in youngsters who have grown up using their thumbs for gaming and SMSing. I read somewhere that soon many things like coke machines or shops will have the technology to automatically detect then sms your mobile as you are walking by and offer you a 'deal' of some sort!! The times they are certainly a changing!! regards, Donna E