If you walk the streets of Manila on any given day, whether in the darkest alley or a well-lit shopping district, the scene is the same: people are glued to their mobile phones, sending text messages to friends, loved ones or officemates, or simply scrolling down their Instagram or Facebook feeds. It is the same even in the slums, though sometimes the phones are not.

Welcome to the Philippines, a country of 98 million people, dubbed the texting capital of the world, because according to industry data, 600 million text messages (SMS) are sent here by 110 million cell phone users each day.  A single short message costs P1 or US$0.022. This is more than the price in the United States and Europe combined.

Filipinos just love texting. To some, it is a way of communicating with people without having to actually talk to them in person. Texts have allowed us to say things we could never say in person, things that could get messy if said face to face.

"The short answer is because it puts some extra space between us and our recipients. It removes us from reality just enough so that we get up the chutzpa to say those things we’d normally be too anxious to reveal or ask of another," says Alice Walton, a health journalist and contributor to Forbes Magazine. 

But to some, texting is really just another innovative way of communicating, sharing ideas, catching up, or simply saying hello. And Filipinos love that too. For the price, texting really is a convenient way to go. It's way cheaper than making a phone call, which costs eight pesos per minute.