The Multitude of Communications Options
Before the invention of the telegraph, the only form of communication was that which was done by letter, face to face, or by smoke signal. It is hard to imagine what life was like just a little over 100 years ago. There was no electricity. People had to use coal or fire wood to heat their homes and cook their food. Oil lamps were the only lights that dimly lit small homes. Can you just see the family sitting down at the small dinner table eating corn bread and potatoes? What would that small family think of the world we live in today?
History of Modern Communication
Mr. Samuel Morse was a man ahead of his time. He created the code that was used by ships and the telegraph to communicate over long distances. His bold ideas began the transformation that modernized the world.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone over a century ago. He built on the idea of using lines to carry sounds. His invention went from switchboards and operators to the fiber optic sound carrying cable of today.
Guglielmo Marconi invented the wireless telegraph in 1895 at the tender age of 21. His invention went on to be called the radio. During the years to come, people listened to their radios each night for news and entertainment. In World War II, radios were crucial in communications among soldiers on all sides of the conflict. Mr. Marconi’s invention was based on analog signals, similar to the analog signals that televisions would use in later years.
And Then Came Television
Of course, we cannot talk about modern communication without mentioning television. That family gathered around their dinner table in the 1800s would never have imagined pictures transferred through the air. Today we get our news and entertainment from television signals beamed around the world by connections to satellites.
The mid 20th century brought more changes to the growing inventions in communications. The Russians launched the first satellite into space and the space race was on. As the United States and Russia sent men into space, engineers on the ground were perfecting wireless communication. Radios were now common among police, emergency services, and several other agencies. The first car phone was seen in the movies at this time. In 1969, man walked on the moon while the world watched.
Brilliant inventors in the engineering industry had an idea to marry the technology of the radio and telephone. Cell phones were the product of their ideas. During the early years, people were limited to a small range called a cell. The area was defined by a geometric shaped landscape with cell towers on at least three points of the grid. At this time, a cell phone user could not go outside the defined grid or they would lose service. In the early 70s, engineers had the idea to put towers in a line that would carry the signal from line to line. This was a major breakthrough in the cell phone communications industry.
As kids in the 1970s played the first games with joysticks, cell phone service was established in Japan. Space Invaders won the scene for awhile, but the dominance of Atari was short lived. The brick phone gained popularity in the 1980s. It allowed users to have a wider range of freedom. During that time, the cell phone was still relatively expensive, and although the brick provided portability, its use was not widespread.
Internet and Cell Phone Proliferation
Two amazing things happened during the 90s. Cell phone companies became common selling tiny cell phones to anyone who would buy them. The other important event during these years was the advent of the Internet.
What is there to say about the Internet? It has created an electronic marketplace unlike anything ever imagined or seen before. People can get information, buy products, and set up a business with the click of a few buttons. Communication has also been greatly impacted. People have websites of their very own, and blogging is becoming a new phenomenon in its own right. Rather than sending a letter through ground mail or air mail, e-mail is now the common method of communication by the written word.
Typewriters have been replaced by computers and telephones have been replaced by cell phones. Communications have come a long way since those early days of the telegraph and radio waves. Most people have a cell phone that they carry with them all the time. Some of these devices have the ability to send and receive e-mails, do many computer functions, and still be a cell phone at the same time. Many people are giving up their land lines, and only using their cell phones for all voice communication.
With the amazing advances that come in the last 150 years, it is hard to imagine what the next 10 years will bring. Maybe one of these days, we'll be able to communicate through thought alone.