From Telegrams to Telegram -Technology and Communication
Since the early stone age, humans have been using different methods to communicate, for e.g., Smoke signals, Cave Carvings, etc. With the time and development of technology, these methods have been continuously evolving. From messenger pigeons to postcards and then to a telephone, which has now evolved into mobile phones, we have seen a lot of different means of communication, which is still evolving.
In this blog, we will go through the timeline of our evolution of communication methods. It really is quite an incredible journey.
Major technological advancements in communication
- Printing Press
The Bi Sheng and Wang Chen dynasties in China invented the first printing press in the 1300s, removing the need to hand write all paper messages. About 150 years later, Johannes Gutenberg of Germany crafted a modernised version of the printing press that was able to mass-produce printed materials. This started the printing revolution.
Because of this, written communication became a popular means of communication, including publications and books, further leading to the invention of some of the most famous forms of communication.
- Postal & Telegram System
The public postal system became very popular in the 18th century. In older times, this was the most commonly used mode of long-distance communication. National postal systems have generally been established as government monopolies with a fee on the article prepaid, often in the form of adhesive stamps. In general, government monopolies only extend parcel (non-mail) delivery to courier services, which provide express delivery. Postal systems often have functions other than sending letters.
As these were the only means of long-distance communication at that time, the posts were more than a piece of paper for the people, it had an emotional value. That’s what made the postal service so popular.
- Fax
The fax machine has a much longer history than you might think! Invented back in 1843 by Alexander Bain, the “Electric Printing Telegraph” was the world’s first faxing device. At the beginning of the 20th century, the AT&T Corporation advanced fax technology by sending photos via wire transmission. Soon after, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) successfully transmitted wireless fax across the Atlantic Ocean. It wasn’t until decades later though that the first modern-day, commercialised fax machine was introduced by the Xerox Corporation.
The original document is scanned with a fax machine (or a telecopier), which processes the contents (text or images) as a single fixed graphic image, converting it into a bitmap and then transmitting it through the telephone system in the form of audio-frequency tones. The receiving fax machine interprets the tones and reconstructs the image, printing a paper copy.
- Telephone
Telephones were invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. With time, it became more and more popular. The call rates dipped and telephones started to appear in every household. It was a revolution. It laid the foundation for mobile phones, which we use these days. The essential elements of a telephone are a microphone (transmitter) to speak into and an earphone (receiver) which reproduces the voice in a distant location. In addition, most telephones contain a ringer to announce an incoming telephone call and a dial or keypad to enter a telephone number when initiating a call to another telephone. The receiver and transmitter are usually built into a handset which is held up to the ear and mouth during conversation. The dial may be located either on the handset or on a base unit to which the handset is connected. The transmitter converts the sound waves to electrical signals which are sent through a telephone network to the receiving telephone, which converts the signals into audible sound in the receiver or sometimes a loudspeaker. Telephones are duplex devices, meaning they permit transmission in both directions simultaneously.
- Handheld Mobile Phones
Though the mobile phone was invented in the 1940s, they were not really mobile phones at all. It was in 1973 when Motorola launched the first handheld mobile phone for mass production. These are often referred to as 0G mobile phones. In 1985, the first public call was made in the UK. In 1992, the world’s first message was sent in the UK. The message read, “Merry Christmas”. In those days, these devices were not as portable as we know them today. They used to be quite heavy and bulky.
- Internet & WWW
The Internet is a system architecture that has revolutionised communications and methods of commerce by allowing various computer networks around the world to interconnect. It supports access to digital information by many applications, including the World Wide Web.
WWW was founded by Tim Berners-Lee. It’s an information system where documents and other web resources are identified by Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).
As a byproduct of the World Wide Web, email was introduced to the world in 1991 (although it had been operating years before) and it has vastly changed our lives — whether for better or worse depends on your viewpoint. The first users of the messaging platform were educational systems and the military who used email to exchange information.
The first example of email from 1965 can be found on computers at MIT in a program called “MAILBOX”. Users of MIT computers could leave messages with this program on computers at the university for other users, who would see the messages the next time they logged on to the computer. It was 1971 when Ray Tomlinson invented and developed ARPANET’s networked email system, which is known as E-Mail now. The concept of nearly instantaneous communication between machines within an organisation proved to be so beneficial and practical that the concept soon began to spread.
When world started to move towards tech-communication
It all started with the introduction of telegrams. While post existed as a form of communication before this date, it was electrical engineering in the 19th century which had a revolutionary impact. Then came the telephone, which within 50 years of its invention became an essential item for homes and offices. The more portable form of telephone, the mobile phone, after getting internet capabilities, revolutionised communication forever.
Since the mid-1990s, the Internet has had a revolutionary impact on communication, including the rise of near-instant communication by electronic mail, instant messaging, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone calls, two-way interactive video calls, discussion forums, blogs and social networking. The internet has made communication easier and faster, it has allowed us to stay in contact with people regardless of time and location. It has accelerated the pace of business and widened the possibilities within the enterprise space. It has allowed people to find their voice and express themselves.
The major thing was the integration of internet in various communication technologies. As with time more and more people started to use the internet, they started using internet-based services more, thus the network increased. The ease and efficiency that was being provided by these services acted as an impetus for many to move towards the advanced communication technologies.
Introduction of initial messaging apps and Social Media sites
With some evolution in mobile phones came messaging service. The ease of use, cost effectiveness, time efficiency, etc. were some of the advantages of it over the normal mail service. Based on this came the Email service, which at the very basic level, was messaging optimised using the internet.
As communication technologies got more and more advanced, people saw a potential that not only can we communicate with the people we know, but we can also communicate with people around the world just by having a certain personal code, like an E-mail address. This concept was used in making social media.
Beginning with the short-lived Six Degrees profile uploading service in 1997.
This service was followed in 2001 by Friendster. These rudimentary platforms attracted millions of users and enabled email address registration and basic online networking.
Other than these, the trend of sharing blogs gained a lot of popularity in 1999 with the launch of LiveJournal publishing sire. This coincided with the launch of the Blogger publishing platform by the tech company Pyra Labs (purchased by Google in 2003).
In 2002, LinkedIn was founded as a networking site for career-minded professionals. By 2020, it had grown to more than 675 million users worldwide. It remains the social media site of choice for job seekers as well as human resources managers searching for qualified candidates.
Thus, we see that a lot was being achieved by the popularisation of social media. These were the initial signs of what was coming In future.
Current situation, famous apps and technologies used these days for enhancing communication experience
E-mail and cellular messaging has become an integral part of everyone’s lives these days.
People around the world are connected via these services. And not only these, the newspaper and tele-media, both of these also are playing a major role in influencing people.
Because of these, people can migrate to new places, without having the tension that they would lose connection with their roots. Not only communication, these services also help in spreading awareness and information also.
Talking about the technology used, these days tele-communication is not bound to texts only. Video chats, sharing of stories, sending emojis , GIFs, stickers, etc. are all part of the communication services these days.
Some of the modern social media outlets include Facebook, Twitter , Instagram , Reddit, Pinterest, etc. These are not only restricted to interaction, these now include many features like business integration, sharing of useful information, etc. Not only these, there are many mobile apps also, like WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. which are being used extensively around the world. These have helped a lot in improving our communication experience.
But everything is not as good as it seems. Recently there have been many cases of social media addiction, privacy leak, online abuse, etc. These are some of the dark sides of these applications that have surfaced in recent years.
Future of Communication technology
With the evolution in the fields of AI , we can expect that one day we will be able to communicate with people via telepathy kind of thing (brain-computer interface). We can also hope that the privacy concerns are reduced, online abuse is controlled. Also, the spreading of fake news might get reduced. The effective cost comms gets lower, the reach to a larger section of population would be achieved.
Another way we might see communication change in the future is through augmented reality (AR) . In an AR system, you view the world through a technological overlay. This could take the form of a hand-held device like a smartphone — there are several augmented-reality applications already available for some phones.
Another possible application is through a set of augmented-reality glasses. In either case, you can view the world around you and see real-time digital information about what you’re viewing.
The industry is trying to provide higher data speed at a lower cost. The Internet will continue to play an increasing role in communication. Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) already plays a large role in several communication products and services.
Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow users to communicate with networks of people. With the rise of the Web, people now have a platform from which they can address the world. In the past, only celebrities and politicians could address so many people at one time. Now, anyone with an Internet connection can do the same thing.
Predicting exactly what will happen in the future is ambiguous these days, considering the pace with which technology is advancing around the world in different fields. But one thing is sure, the future of communications is going to be very interesting and fun.
