system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why are text messages still handicapped by antiquated standards?

When will we be able to send ETE encrypted texts with more than 160 characters? Or videos not compressed to 10x10 pixels? It's 2019 and the standards are decades old.
gpt
SMS still exists because it's essentially "free." Your phone is constantly pinging towers, and every time it does that, it attaches any outgoing SMS messages in the free bytes at the end of the packet. It's a good basic communication tool that uses no additional resources, makes no extra network requests, and works even on the most basic 1x connection with no data.

If you want to send big videos and long messages, we have the technology for that as well (3g, LTE, etc) so you can use that too when it's needed. But there's no point in disabling SMS, even if it's old and limited. It's free, works on any phone regardless of whether it's iPhone/Android/2003 flip phone, and it doesn't burn your data or require any apps. Good standard to keep around, for now.