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The World Of Communications, Then And Now
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
I've been spending some time looking through some old movies to try and uncover some interesting tidbits about the history of communications. In this particular short from 1947, a telephone line repairman explains to a couple of young boys about communications. Interestingly, the movie spends a lot more time talking about ways other than the telephone.
How did people communicate back in 1947? They communicated by the telephone, of course, but they also communicated by handwritten letters, radio, the newspaper, and television. I'm surprised they left movies out as a way to communicate. After all, that's what this short was--a movie.
Today, communications isn't all that different. We still send letters to people, we still listen to the radio, read the newspaper, and watch TV and movies. At least conceptually speaking, anyway. All of these activities have now taken on different forms.
Let's take a look at letters. I can't remember the last time I hand wrote a letter to someone. I bet you can't, either. However, I send electronic letters (i.e. email) constantly. Instead of having to wait for days for a response, we can get a response in a matter of minutes, sometimes.
The radio? It's still there and operates much the same way. However, we can also listen to our own radio station, as it were. Portable Audio Players like the Apple iPod can contain your own collection of music and audio programs, commonly called podcasts or netcasts. You can be your own disc jockey, as it were.
The newspaper and TV is still there, also. But the newspapers are rapidly moving online. Television is doing the same thing, with the major networks making their most popular shows available over the Internet. Even the evening news can be seen online.
What about telephony? That's moved online as well. voip.com and a number of other services deliver phone calls over the Internet, much like the other forms of communication are starting to do.
Some things don't change. While it's true the delivery method for all these communication methods is changing, the fact is that people are still using essentially the same methods to communicate then as they are now.
