Life Before the Printing Press
In today’s day and age, people have the freedom to communicate with who they want, practice any religion they choose, and express themselves on an individual level. While these ideas may seem ordinary to most people, society has not always been free for people to choose what type of life they want to live. In Chapter 5:Media Evolution and Cultural Change, media theorist, Joshua Meyrowitz, outlines four time eras that were distinguished according to the communicative method and technology available during each time period. As communication technology advanced, Meyrowitz highlights cultural changes in each of the four eras that he links to the advancements seen in communication technologies.
The first era was the Traditional Oral Society, where speech and sound were the main forms of communication. This era had the least amount of communicative technology, relying on face-to-face interactions, and can be described as the most simple and equal time period. Following the Oral Society, came the Transitional Scribal Phase, in which reading and writing were developed. A small percentage of people were able to read and write and therefore, they controlled the knowledge the rest of society gained. As more people began to read and write, new advancements in technology were seen leading into the next era, the Modern Print Culture. This era was characterized by the rise of mass communication, starting from the printing press, leading to the newspaper, motion picture, radio, and television. Mass communication allowed for people to gain more knowledge, and express their opinions and ideas more freely. Lastly the era we are in today, the Postmodern Global Electronic Culture, is characterized by the creation of the internet, mobile technology, and social media. The members in this era are accustomed to living in an almost entirely digitalized world, where communication seems to be easier for most behind a screen, and knowledge is more accessible.
In order to understand how society has progressed so far both culturally and technologically, it is important to understand the first two eras. Looking back at the Oral Society from today’s perspective, it is hard to imagine a time where verbal communication was the dominant way of communicating. Communication may seem habitual today, but words were versatile for the members of this society. As Meyrowitz writes, “In oral societies, words are not objects to be viewed or held, but time-bound events, much like thunder or a scream” (citation, 57). When someone was speaking, it stood as an educational moment, a form of entertainment, or simply a way to pass the time, making each utterance monumental. Members of society had to rely solely on their memory to store information, creating a close-knit community within each tribe. To make the process of memorization easier, members would typically communicate through poetry, song, dance, and rituals. The pool of knowledge for these people was limited to what the elder tribe members knew, leaving little room for distinctions among individuals, creating an egalitarian society. Power within these communities was held communally because no one member had an upper hand on knowledge. It was not until reading and writing were developed that a change in structure of society was seen.
Although oral communication was still heavily relied upon in the Scribal Phase, the evolution of reading and writing gave a small percentage of people power over society, due to their increasing knowledge. Reading and writing allowed this small percentage of people to rely less on their memory, and to begin having more abstract thoughts. Writing became a way for the dominant class, monarchs and the Church, as discussed in Technology & Social Change, written by Michael Soha, to hold power over the illiterate members of society. The literate could choose the knowledge they wanted the rest of society to have, and did so by copying religious texts. These texts revolving around Christianity, became the main source of books that circulated around society, but were scarce due to the amount of time it took for one book to be copied. As seen in the film Matter of Fact, it would take Monks several months to a year to finish copying one book. Reading and writing allowed a small percentage of society to gain more knowledge equating to power, but it was not until the evolution of the printing press that society would see the most change.

Created by German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg, the printing press sparked a new world of mass communication, in which books were able to be produced quicker and for less money. “First, the printing press would enable the mass production of printed material, leading to a rapid spread and standardization of knowledge across Europe” (Soha, 9). This knowledge gave people the courage to speak their minds, and educate other individuals about what they believed in. As discussed in the Matter of Fact, Martin Luther used the printing press to create “The 95 Theses”, one of the first mass produced forms of communication, leading to the Protestant Reformation. For the first time, people could question what they had been taught for all of these years. With advancements in technology, people were able to express themselves and align with others with similar views.
Not only did this knowledge spark ideas against the church, but it eventually led to scientific advancements, and modern science to surface. As people began to explore science and this new knowledge, technological advancements began to arise. New forms of mass communication surfaced, such as newspaper and the radio. As the time progressed, so did knowledge and newer forms of technology, leading into the digital era we are a part of today. Ultimately, the printing press was the first form of communicative technology that sparked the drive that has turned society into the “electronic globe”. It is important to recognize that the cultural advancements we have seen have a society, would not have been possible without this technological progress.
