Play

Have you ever wondered what happens to your text (not Whatsapp) messages after you send them? How do they reach your partner, your best friend, your mother, and everyone else in your contacts?

How on earth do each – OK, most – of those 23 billion text messages sent every day get to their recipients?

You'll find the answer in this video from AsapSCIENCE – a YouTube channel created by Canadians Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown. It starts with a little context and background for the viewer.

“Two hundred years ago, it took 12 days to send a message from New York City to London,” Moffit begins, going on to explain how we’re able to send text messages on the go now. And it's a complex set of events that must unfold in seconds.

The video helpfully predicts that the future looks bright and some day, we’ll probably be able to send a thoughtful message to a loved one by simply thinking about them.