Communication is essential and is crucial to intercultural understanding. The nature of communication has changed throughout time. Today’s communication between individuals is entirely different from that of the ancient period. Before now, communication was only possible via person-to-person engagement. Today, there are many ways to communicate thanks to the Internet age.
Communication has undoubtedly been transformed by technology. People no longer have to wait years, months, weeks, or even days before learning or receiving communication. The receiver may get texts, emails, tweets, and personal notes in seconds.
Even businesses have expanded their ways of communicating with customers over the years. From telephone and email, to social media and in modern technology, businesses can outsource live chat customer service for quick response to assist customers.
Let’s examine the evolution of communication throughout time.
Cavern paintings
Cave paintings are the earliest examples of symbols used for communication. Theorists claim cave paintings were produced to demarcate territory or preserve historical information. Around 30,000 B.C., the earliest known cave artwork was found inside Chauvet Cave in France. The oldest cave paintings have also been discovered at Coliboaia Cave in Romania and South Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Symbols
Our distant ancestors utilised different types of signs and symbols to communicate. Petroglyphs were made about 10,000 B.C. They were rock surface engravings, sometimes referred to as rock art. In 9,000 B.C., pictograms were created by ancient humans, who used logographic pictures to convey narratives. Ancient civilisations later produced ideograms. The Egyptians used hieroglyphs while the Chinese used characters. The alphabet was created circa 2,000 B.C., revolutionising language and communication.
Smoke signals
Ancient humans used elements in addition to letters and symbols to communicate. Around 200 B.C. in China, smoke signals were primarily used for communication, with guards along the Great Wall of China using these as a way to communicate. Greek historian Polybius created smoke signals that represented the alphabet circa 150 B.C.
Transport pigeons
Pigeons are inherently good at following orders, as we all know. Pigeons were Roman soldiers’ primary means of communication more than 2,000 years ago. Messenger pigeons were commonly utilised in the 12th century. Henry Teonge, a naval priest, said merchants operated pigeons as a “postal” service, and they were essential in both World Wars I and II.
Postal Service
In 2,400 B.C., the Egyptians used courier services to distribute decrees. Up to this point, a letter from 255 B.C. has been preserved. In the past, postal systems were also set up in Rome, Persia, China, and India. On the other hand, the Parisian postal service, which made use of mailboxes and the delivery of paid envelopes, wasn’t established until 1653 by the Frenchman De Valayer.
Newspaper
German inventor Johannes Gutenberg created the printing machine in 1440, dramatically altering how people communicate. In the 16th century, the newspaper started to thrive as a result. The first newspaper was Johann Carolus’ German-language periodical in Strasbourg in 1605. In Amsterdam in 1620, the first newspaper in the English language was printed.
Radio
Radio developed as print media expanded. The 1830s saw the development of the electromagnetic hypothesis thanks to research on wireless telegraphy by several scientists, including Maxwell and Hughes. Heinrich Rudolf Hertz discovered “Hertzian waves” in 1888, and they bear his name. Tesla began sending material via wireless electricity in 1893 and radio transmission started in the early 20th century.
Telegraph
After Samuel Morse created the Morse code and encoded the ISO Latin alphabet, telegraph communication was established. Morse code uses several clicks, tones, and lights to send messages. The Morse code was introduced to telegraphy in 1830 by Morse, who transformed long-distance communication and delivered his first telegraph transmission in 1844.
Telephone
The telephone quickly took the role of telecommunication when Alexander Graham Bell created it in 1876. It’s a communication tool that converts human voice impulses into electrical signals sent across wires. It was further developed for commercial use to support local and long-distance calls, and the landline telephone service started in the 1900s. The telephone has long been one of the most dependable forms of communication.
Television
Television emerged as a medium of indirect communication for the general public, alongside telephones. Television was created not merely by one genius but by the labour of several gifted individuals. After World War II, television broadcasts made their first appearances, although they were still in black and white. Today, there are more than 1.5 billion television-owning homes on the planet.
Internet
The ARPANET, the early forerunner of the internet, was built after the invention of computers in the 1950s. In the 1960s, the ARPANET was created to control communication among ARPA computer terminals. In 1973, the phrase “internet” first appeared. The domain system was introduced in 1983, and in 1991, a physicist at CERN named Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web (www), which unquestionably marked the beginning of the contemporary Internet.
When the internet first came out, electronic messages gained popularity. Emails existed before the ARPANET, although they were “offline” then. John Vittal created an email organisation programme in 1975. Email made up 75% of ARPANET traffic at that point. Yahoo! was established in 1994. Other email services, such as Hotmail and Google Mail, came after it.
Text Messages
On December 3, 1992, an engineer from Sema Group (now Airwide Solutions) used a computer to transmit “Merry Christmas” via the Vodafone network, marking the beginning of formal SMS messaging. Radiolinja was the first network service provider to provide text messaging between individuals in 1994. Today, more than 9 trillion SMS are delivered annually as SMS technology has advanced.
Social media
The usage of social media platforms is the most recent method of communication in the digital age. Due to the widespread use of smartphones, where social media applications are simple to set up, has become more accessible. Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in 2004 and one of the most popular messaging programmes available today is Messenger. YouTube was the first widely used social media platform for uploading videos in 2005. Twitter seized control of the social media landscape in 2006, and other social media sites such as Instagram and TikTok rose to popularity in later years.
Comments are closed.