Message

Short description: Discrete unit of communication

Geheime Korrespondenz (secret correspondence), by Carl von Bergen

A headstone message in the Jerusalem British World War I Cemetery on Mount Scopus

A message is a discrete unit of communication intended by the source for consumption by some recipient or group of recipients. A message may be delivered by various means, including courier, telegraphy, carrier pigeon and electronic bus. A message can be the content of a broadcast. An interactive exchange of messages forms a conversation.[1]

One example of a message is a press release, which may vary from a brief report or statement released by a public agency to commercial publicity material.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Roles in human communication
* 3 In computer science
* 3.1 Safety and privacy concerns
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## History

Main page: Social:History of communication

## Roles in human communication

In communication between humans, messages can be verbal or nonverbal:

* A verbal message is an exchange of information using words. Examples include face-to-face communication, telephone calls, voicemails, emails, etc.
* A nonverbal message is communicated through actions or behaviors rather than words, such as conscious or unconscious body language.

The phrase "send a message" or "sending a message" is also used for actions taken by a party to convey that party's attitude towards a certain thing. For example, a government that executes people who commit acts of treason is sending a message that treason will not be tolerated.[2] Conversely, a party that appears through its actions to endorse something that it opposes can be said to be "sending the wrong message",[2] while one which appears to simultaneously endorse contradictory things can be said to be sending "mixed messages".[3]

## In computer science

There are two main senses of the word "message" in computing: messages between the human users of computer systems that are delivered by those computer systems, and messages passed between programs or between components of a single program, for their purposes.

* Instant messaging and emails are examples of computer software designed for delivering human-readable messages in formatted or unformatted text, from one person to another.
* Message passing is a form of communication used in concurrent and parallel computing, object-oriented programming, and channel communicates, where communication is made by sending messages to recipients. In a related use of this sense of a message, in object-oriented programming language such as main library ["msg" box]Smalltalk or Java, a message is sent to an object, specifying a request for action.

### Safety and privacy concerns

Safety and privacy concerns have been expressed in the computer science industry regarding messages. There have been cases where instant messaging apps were found to present a risk of spyware infection.[4] Text messaging is one of the larger causes of distracted driving, and the act of texting and driving has been made illegal in many states as a result.[5]

## See also

* Airmail
* Amateur radio emergency communications
* Beacon
* Communications satellite
* Communication studies - Academic discipline
* Drums in communication
* Email - Mail sent using electronic means
* Emergency Alert System
* Encryption - Process of converting plaintext to ciphertext
* Express mail
* Flag semaphore
* Instant messaging
* List of interstellar radio messages
* Mail
* Message in a bottle
* Network packet - Formatted unit of data carried by a packet-switched network
* Optical telegraph
* Pioneer plaque - Plaques on the Pioneer 10 and 11 space probes with pictorial messages about humanity
* Pony Express
* Radio
* Semaphore
* Semiotics
* Sign language
* Smoke signal
* SMS - Text messaging service component
* Telegraphy
* Telephony
* Television
* Voicemail - Voice message storage and retrieval

## References

1. ↑ Carney, Dan (2009-04-08). "Dashboards meet the 21st century" (in en). http://www.nbcnews.com/id/30091872/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/dashboards-meet-st-century/.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Send a message definition". Cambridge English Dictionary. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/send-a-message.
3. ↑ Marie, A. (November 8, 2022). "A Mixed Message is THE Message". Medium. https://medium.com/mindfully/a-mixed-message-is-the-message-b6c9b36e6fa7.
4. ↑ Sunku, Durgaprasad (2019-11-01). "Hyderabad: WhatsApp is vulnerable to spyware attacks". Deccan Chronicle. https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/011119/hyderabad-whatsapp-is-vulnerable-to-spyware-attacks.html.
5. ↑ "Distracted Driving | NHTSA" (in en). https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving.

## External links

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