Argueta 1

Rudy Argueta
Professor Griffith
English 113B- 11:00 AM MW
22 February 2016
The Evolution of Communication
Communication is one of humankinds greatest tools to understand each other. In the
past, when man first set foot on land, forms of communication was written text, the use of smoke
signals, body, sign, and oratory language. Overtime, as society started to grow communications
started to revolutionize the world, communication became more complex or simple. People
started to have their own method of communication that was sustainable for their time such as
letters, telegrams, radio, telephone, cell phones, emojis. Now, people can communicate with a
click of a button. Through technological advancements, communication has changed human
behavior. The World Wide Web started to be developed with all the technology that was
becoming available. From microchips encoded with code to a large database widely used today,
the web is a key role in communication. Social media has also played a role in todays
communication and how the world plays into it. Communication over the years has evolved,
such as long distance relationships, and technology causing major changes to society.
Back in the early to mid-20th century(1900-1950), communication was limited but
always there. Long distance communication has not been utilized correctly because important
information that needed to be delivered cannot be easily accessed. People do not have the proper
tools to find different forms of communication rapidly and easily. Letters were the only way to
communicate in the first half of the 20th century because there was not really any other method
to move communication. For instance, letters were used to send messages to loved ones during

Argueta 2

World War 1 to remember that they have supporters back home. Telephones were the dominant
form of communication, but not reliable because it required a lot of money. Letters were heavily
depended on to communicate with others. In Communication in the 21st Century the writer
Carolyn R. Miller states, Communication is still the social glue that holds together nations,
corporations, scientific disciplines, and families (Miller). Communication is the key that keeps
nations and businesses from falling apart and destroying each other. People in long distances
waited for a long period of time to receive their letter because there was a long journey for the
letters to arrive. Since communication was limited, technology started to come in.
During the mid-20th century, technology started to play an important role in
communications. Previous methods such as the telegrams, radio, etc.. needed an upgrade because
society was getting tired of waiting. Inventors and scientists started to develop new ideas on how
we could communicate at a faster pace. Then, the idea of technology popped into the minds of
the clever. In the article Communication in the 21st Century Miller says, In the 20th century,
we have seen the effects of the telephone, radio and television, film, high-speed printing,
xerography, desktop publishing, electronic mail. These communication technologies have
changed our national political life, corporate management styles, family connection, individual
work habits (Miller). Technology has changed on how society sees the world through political
correctness because their is right and wrong on how technology should work. Technology can be
a business opportunity or just a waste of time. The old types of communications were the
prototypes of how the new ones were going to be. All these rapid changes that nobody had seen
shifted from the traditional simple but bias plan to the speedy but slow process. Without
technology, the web would have never been developed and cellphones would not exist. Phone
calls were made through wired connections and required human operator to push more buttons.

Argueta 3

Phones were limited to their functions because they were overexposed to the world.. People had
to deal with this for a long time. The introduction of technology through communication shifted
to the development of email.
Email has deprived society from communicating with others face to face. Since the
introduction of the internet in the early 1990s, society has slowly shifted away themselves from
others. The web was becoming a thing of the future and people were finding ways to improve
their lives at any cost. Some people do not want to go and talk in person anymore since their is
no real reason. People tend to be more extroverted than introverted when they use their email. In
Communication Changes With Technology, Social Media Haley Eastman states, Verbal
communication has decreased dramatically from just 20 years ago, when most of the technology
used today did not even exist (Eastman). Society as a whole started to not see themselves once
technology started to kick in overdrive. This was the new way to communicate making the old
one seem to not exist anymore. The web started to make forms for other platforms of
communication. Email was indeed the first form of communication technology and has
revolutionized the way society thinks and acts. Although email is depriving society from
communicating with others, society is widely acknowledging the use of it.
If one has access to the internet, email is used every day. Since its rise in the 1970s email
was not really popular, until the mid-1990s when computers started to be placed in the market.
Websites were created which attracted users. In Communication changes with technology,
social media Hayley Eastman says, Email is currently the most popular form of online
communication, even after discounting the large volume of spam messages sent. According to
readwire.com about 188 billion emails are sent out per day (Eastman). Email is one of the best
forms of communication to be ever distributed. There are variety of companies that have created

Argueta 4

emails such as Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail and many others. Emails are easy to create because it
requires a simple sign up with your name, date of birth, username and password. People send and
receive messages daily as texting becomes the instant way to communicate with each other.
People with smartphones use an app that allows them to access their email. Eastman states, In
addition, 79 percent of people use their smartphone to check their email, a much higher
percentage than the 43 percent who use them to make phone calls, according to
nicheversting.com (Eastman). Emails are more important than making any random call because
emails can lead to jobs, emergencies, and many other aspects for furthering someones life. Since
email is one form of communication that is used a lot, video calls follows behind it.
Video is another change in communication. Video calls such as skype and google
hangouts help an individual communicate face to face virtually with anyone. Video chat is simple
to set up using a name, date of birth, username, and password, but now video chatting requires a
camera. Even though the camera may be dangerous, it can potentially show the background of
locations. Video helps the people in need that has never spoken or heard anything in their
lifetime. It can also help people learn virtually if they cannot go to school or visit the outdoors. It
revolutionized how people can use this method of communication personally or professionally. I
feel that video calls help me seek out the many possibilities that the web can offer. Video feels
like it has taken over the internet. Video calls are used for business inquisitions if the person
cannot make their interview. Many varieties of websites use video. In Communication changes
with technology, social media Eastman states, Pinterest and Linkedin have also had their share
of visitors, with Linkedin used primarily for business connections and Pinterest used largely by
women (Eastman). Websites like Pinterest and Linkedin used video in order for the users to
talk to one another or the company itself. People see this as an opportunity for them to work

Argueta 5

faster and not go in person. Society has the chance to take advantage and not let it go. Although
video change communication, chat brought many ideas to the table.
Chat is an alternative form to video bringing the messenger platform. Chat has been
around for 15 years because the internet and computers skyrocketed around that time. Chat was
small during that time, but there was only Windows (Microsoft software) to chat. Chat was
minimal to the point that people gave up. Moving onto today, chat has exploded with its
popularity. Chat has become faster and wildly known by society. Some popular chat platforms
are google talk, windows live and kik. These are the alternative way to text an individual near
and far. Social Media has become the new chat. Social Media has become addicting to the users.
Eastman says, Not only do people use Facebook to communicate, but the great deal of time
they spend on it takes away from the time they might spend interacting with people in person.
According to dazeinfo.com, 23 percent of users check their accounts at least five times a day
(Eastman). Many countless hours are spent on social media because people are careless to think
what is going on around them. Social media can be seen as depriving from society and all the
problems that are currently happening and not do anything about it.
Society has become so accustomed to social media that some might want to do that. In
the article Is Facebook Distorting Your View of the World? Jessica Grogan states, Concluding
that Facebook was actually detracting from my sense of well-being at the end of a stressful day, I
deleted the app from my phone (Grogan). Social media becomes an addiction because it
deprives some people from reality. After a long and difficult day social media gives a good
feeling being looked at, but in the end of the day it is bad. Facebook crumbles the mind into
thinking it is becoming a friend. This platform is the new communication that the world has
come up with.

Argueta 6

Society has taken a toll with communication. With different varieties of communication I
do not see society lasting long. Communication has become widely known and will continue to
grow. Unless society decides to limit communication then it will never stop. Communication has
to be censor in a way that society cannot have too much and too little with it. Communication
will become the future of society and we have to deal with it.

Work Cited

Argueta 7

Eastman, Haley. Communication changes with technology, social media.

www.universe.byu.edu. Brigham Young University. 07 Juk. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
Grogan, Jessica. Is Facebook Distorting Your View of the World? www.pyschologytodayy.com.
Encountering America. 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
Miller, R. Carolyn. Communication in the 21st Century. www4.ncsu.edu. Center for
Communication in Science, Technology, and Management. Aug. 1996. Web. 13
Feb.2016.
Rowan, Cris. 10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under the
Age of 12. www.huffingtonpost.com. The Huffington Post. 19 Feb. 2015. Web. 13 Feb
2016.