Communication Metamorphosis
6:47 AM
There were two things I learned as I dug into facts and theories about communication. (1) Language plays an enormous role in it, both in the past and today and by language, I mean words, sounds and gestures. And (2) it changes rapidly just as time does. People were able to convey messages in a variety of ways: The first people on earth communicated through sounds, like whistling, for example. Although there was no spoken language yet, they were able to understand each other. In terms of communication through writing, they recorded their messages on stones which imparted messages very well across time. Its message could even be passed on through centuries! However, it was kind of inefficient for communicating across space. I can imagine the natives having a hard time spreading the message on the stone since it’s very heavy (lol!). Sounds were only able to convey messages over a limited distance, too. Plus, it is true that conveying the message yourself is much safer than relaying it to someone else.
This made way for some improvements. People were able to develop long-distance communications like the very famous smoke signals by the American Indians. But then again, these too were limited methods since the signals were pre-arranged. It could only mean things like, “There’s danger!” or “We’re victorious! We have defeated the enemy!” They used shouting, too. I once read something about townspeople holding annual competitions for choosing their “town criers”. These criers prove to be worthy of the position by shouting a certain message as loud as they could. The person who relays the message over the greatest distance wins.
Another leap of improvement was the use of paper instead of stones. With this, the efficiency of delivering messages were not very limited anymore. Finally they can be relayed accurately even at a huge distance. A lot of good things came up with the invention of paper. History was brought to a different level, rules and laws were actually written down, roads to studying were paved, and a lot more. Now the only catch left was to speed up communication. The first steps taken were fast riders, good roads, and air mail through pigeons. From those developed newspapers, snail mail, telegrams, telephone calls, beepers, cell phone calls and text messages, and finally the fastest of all so far, the internet where everything is “just one click away”.
The constant reaction I had in mind while putting this entry together was, “Wow.” I am deeply amazed by the changes of communication: by how fast it goes and by how big those changes already are today. I am also aware that it is alive and it changes every single day. It won’t stop growing. Right now I can’t imagine that these very advanced way of communicating will be much more advanced someday. It overwhelms me! But I guess that is really its nature. Those changes will not always be positive, there will be negative ones, too, but the bottom line is that it inevitably changes as time does. :)
(on Changes of Communication)
(on Changes of Communication)
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