This has probably been a long term trend as email usage is on the decline and texting is dominant. The handwriting was on the wall when Google redesigned hango

This has probably been a long term trend as email usage is on the decline and texting is dominant. The handwriting was on the wall when Google redesigned hangouts to make it look more teen friendly a few years ago, but unfortunately they removed some useful functionality and made it far worse on a smaller (laptop sized) screen.