While many writers, thinkers, and philosophers debate the impact of communication technologies on our world, there is a kind of consensus.
We tend to think that these technologies have somehow made life more convenient and better. For example, they help to receive news from our relatives even if they are not nearby.
Nevertheless, we are missing the most important point.
Even philosophers, who tend to be more skeptical about communication technologies, approach the issue incorrectly.
What Kind of Evolution Are We Really Talking About?
First, communication is an aspect that is common to all living things on many different levels; from DNA and pheromones to satellites in outer space. This obvious point is worth nothing as it often goes overlooked.
Therefore, communication itself is nothing new.
Second, while writing was clearly a game changer in communication, it is nothing compared to what modern communication has become.
One of the big things that writing changed was our ability to collect and compute knowledge, further develop an educational system, as well as give us the ability to transmit knowledge across time and space.
Writing is also one of the elements that allowed us to develop different digital media forms such as images, music, sounds, or voices.
Yet what characterizes modern communication is the fact that content can be transmitted far from the sender: namely, telecommunications.
But Is Telecommunication New? Well, No!
Early communication systems encompassed a wide variety of methods and technologies used by human societies to transmit messages over long distances. Examples are things such as smoking signals, drumming, pigeons, and beacons.