Comment by cableshaft

Before texting there were instant messenger apps that everyone used (ICQ, AIM, MSN Messenger). Less people used the internet then, but those who did used those. Back when those were a thing the chat logs could usually be saved automatically as text files. I still have a ton of chat conversations I go back to sometimes from when I was in high school.

It's a lot harder to go back and read text messages, and I only can because the old phones I kept still function. I started transcribing a few text conversations manually though because those phones won't last forever.