Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Communication of Technology: Advantages and Disadvantages
Communication Technology is: electronic systems used for communication between individuals or groups. Communication technology facilitates communication between individuals or groups who are not physically present at the same location. Systems such as telephones, telex, fax, radio, television, and video are included, as well as more recent computer-based technologies, including electronicdata interchange and e-mail. Advantages and disadvantages are listed below. Please comment based on your experience with communication technology.
Advantages of Communication Technology:
Advantages of Communication Technology:
- more efficient
- faster method of cummunication during emergencies
- able to communicate from anywhere in the world
- long distance communication is easier
- communication made easier
- harder to use for people of older generations
- cyber-bullying and cyber-skyping made possible
- not always reliable
- makes communciation less personal
- not always sure who you are communicating with
The Evolution of Technology
Communication
MacKenzie
Jones
IT 103
Section 001
February 29, 2012
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Introduction
Over the last few decades, the evolution of communication
technology has been vastly transformed. “Back in the old days” people used to
use landlines, nowadays you’re considered out of date if you don’t have the
latest IPhone. The world’s way of communicating which once used to be a
time-consuming and extensive process, has transformed itself so much that it
now allows people to connect and be in touch with others around the world; this
all happening at the touch of their fingertips. Due to this extreme and
life-changing technological revolution, society has renovated the meaning of
“communication”. “Communicating” isn’t just regarded to in terms of actually
”talking”, it can now be considered; text messaging, emailing, skyping, and
also social networking. “Talking” no longer has to be face-to-face conversation
with another person. (Rogers) Along with this new advancement there has also
been some unfortunate things leading out of it. New issues presented themselves
in the forms of cyber-bullying, cyber-stalking, as well as further interaction’s
coming off of these bullying sessions. Before these new tools and technologies,
issues such as these did not have a presence in the technological world.
(Info-Culture) We have come a long way since the first cases of written and
oral communication; it is much more than just “talking” now. (Rogers)
Written
Communication
Snail mail: the majority of us have used or heard of it
before. With the great eruption of electronic mail, commonly known as email,
the use of snail mail is less common. However, the technological world still
plunged into an important time period commonly known as the writing and
printing era. With the assistance of innovator Alexander Graham Bell, on March
7, 1876, Bell issued the first ever patent for the telephone. Prior to the
invention of the telephone, the most prominent means of communication used over
long distance were letters, and post cards (New Communication Technologies).
This major transformation will forever change the old way s of communication,
as well as provide new ideas for an even more futuristic way of communicating.
The Invention of Telephones
The
first telephones connected by means of a single direct channel. This channel
was only able to communicate with one another. Following the single channel,
small urban areas initiated the use of a switchboard, which had the capability
to transfer phone calls from one line to another by using one or more
operators. However, if one were to make a long distance call, they would have
to contact the long distance operator, and then this operator would place the
call. The larger cities were provided with a special number, compared to the
old generic one, that the operator would then ring up. The individual city’s
operator had the ability to transfer the call to the person the other desired
to reach (Rogers). This method of communication worked, however it was very
ineffective and unproductive, and wasn’t always dependable. For instance, in
times of emergency waiting to connect with an operator to then have to wait for
them to transfer the call, did not make for the best use of constrained time. Another
example of unreliability is if a person was trying to reach another who was not
home to accept the call; then what would happen? A major downside from this
means of communication was that the public still had to pay for long distance
phone calls, whether the person they were trying to get in touch with answered
or not (How Stuff Works). With the assistance of the “new and improved”
products, people were capable of communicating over time and over long
distances (D. Gregory).
Electronic Communication (email)
Electronic
mail permits people to send and receive messages through a written document
using the World Wide Web and their computer. Emails can be conducted and
received at the sender and receivers personal convenience. Electronic mail was
established and created in 1961. This new technological advancement allowed
people to converse extremely quickly. Compared to the old means of
communication or the telephone, email did not have the reoccurring issue of
individuals not being available at the same particular time. Electronic mail has
a process between a client and a server. Every time an email is sent, the
client initiates the connection with the server, and that server shares the
message (D. Gregory). The system of electronic mail was much more efficient,
nonetheless people did not use this new means of technology right away. The
public was very uncertain about this new system of communication. Particularly,
one concern many had if the email would get to their intended receiver and if
it would get there on time. This concern was highly regarded because
individuals were so used to receiving an instant response, such as someone’s
voice on the other end of the telephone. One email became more accepted by
society, it became highly used and an extremely common way of communicating. One
thing that attracted the public and caused them to further look into the use of
email was its ability to attach and send pictures, word documents, and power
points. The use of electronic mail has expanded people’s ability to share
documents with the click of a button. People no longer have to print out their
work and then mail it using postage; they can simply email it or submit work
electronically. This advancement has a variety of benefits, thus including,
less wasted paper, extreme increase in efficiency and time management and
lastly the simple task of submitting work to the internet for college, high
school, or real world jobs.
The Age of the Cell Phone
In the
early 70’s, the mobile phone, commonly known as cell phone was invented. Doctor
Martin Cooper developed the first cell phone in 1973. When many think of a cell
phone they imagine a small compact device; to some the IPhone may even come to
their minds. However, the first cellular phone was a large bulky rectangle
shaped device. During the creation of the first cell phone, many referred to
this new gadget as a “brick”. This nickname formed due to the fact that the
first mobile phone greatly resembled a literal brick. In 1983 the Motorola
DynaTAC8000x was the first phone to become commercially available to the public.
Before the handheld telephone was created, we had the radio telephone. The
radio telephone is extremely similar to a walkie-talkie. The system of the
radio phone consisted of a single and main tower existing in each city. This
method had a variety of problems, some being that there were not enough
channels for everyone to communicate over due to the fact that radio phones
used radio lines to transmit sound. Cell phones are similar to radios despite
the fact that each city has various cell’s, therefore allowing many people to
use their phones simultaneously; this due to the usage of frequency (New
Communication Technologies).
New Technologies Emerge
With
the invention of electronic mail and the cell phone, various other types of new
modernized ways of communication began to erupt! In the technological world, this
specific point in time appeared to be something similar to a race or battle to
see who could develop the latest and greatest forms of communication.
Thereupon, in the early years of the 90’s, the development of Instant Messaging
evolved (Spreading The News). With the eruption of all these new technologies,
people were beginning to become more interested in other ways to communicate
rapidly with others. Society was becoming accustomed to things being immediate
or “instant”. Thus, the newest and hastiest method of written communication
emerged. Instant Messaging was much quicker than email, just a quicker and
updated version of it. Instant Messaging grew even more with the release of
AOL’s new program, commonly known as AIM. AIM was the easiest, and fastest
means of communication at this point in time; this interested many individuals.
However popular AIM was it still had its assortment of advantages and
disadvantages; consequently leading to the development of yet another new means
of communication (Science Direct).
Summarizing Technology
With the immense
advancement and progression occurring in our technological world, our society
has become reliant on technology. This always seems to amaze me because at one
point in time, we did not have any of these devices, and now we are so
dependent on them. I truly believe that if forced to go back to the old methods
of communication, our culture would be lost and unable to survive. Today many
people in society take these technologies for granted, and some cant even
remember the times without cell phones, instant messaging, or email. Amazingly,
all of these innovations, including mobile phones, AIM and especially email are
still prominently used in our society and have yet to be replaced with
something new. Email may be the advancement still used most widely, due to its
ability to send and receive large documents, as well as being able to
distribute to many people at once. Furthermore, every single one of these
devices has entirely changed the way humans connect and communicate with each other.
Before this incredible technological revolution, communication was possible in
many ways. However this had to be done with various devices and machines,
compared to now where all of these applications are available on a single
instrument (Rogers). Varying with the type of cell phone one owns, some can
store contacts, set alarms, and make phone calls. However others are able to,
make day to day schedules, use the Internet, play fun games, pay bills, watch
TV and movies, listen to music, and even go as far as being able to “face time”
or video chat with another (Voucher). Innovators have basically though of every
“application” you could think of, and made it accessible on your cell phone.
Updated Technologies: Generated for Accessibility
Beginning with the
camera phone, leading to the blackberry or smart phone, and finally emerging
into the IPhone era; all of these devices continue to develop new and improved
features. The blackberry being described as a “convergent device”,
revolutionized the way the business world worked. Soon after the blackberry,
the IPhone was created. The IPhone is one if the worlds highest regarded
technological items (Science Direct). The IPhone designed by Steve Jobs, has
more applications in one small device than the world has ever seen. Some of
these applications and qualities being the 5-mega pixel camera, video
recording, GPS navigation, HD TV and video, millions of games, liquid crystal
display, face time, and countless more. One amazing thing about the
technological world is if a certain device is lacking a feature or it is not up
to par, then the second version will come out soon enough. For example, the
IPhone series has 5 different versions, each better than the next. Due to the
immense capability of these small devices, our culture is highly dependent and
reliant on their phones. Many do not leave home without it, and some even
shower with their phone! Technologies that were once astonishing are no longer
used due to the fact that our phone can literally “do it all” (Business
Communication). Things such as mailing letters, waiting for an operator,
waiting for dial-up, and not being able to leave the room and talk on the
phone, are all things of the past. New technologies have taken over! Without these
innovations, people lives today would be much more complicated; time which you
could be completing productive things, would still be spent on time-consuming
jobs. Before these new developments people would only be able to complete
certain tasks and jobs in specific places. In addition to being less
productive, one would have to carry around several devices in order to listen
to music, talk on the phone, take videos, surf the web, and take pictures (How
Stuff Works). However, nowadays all one needs is their IPhone to be content.
Internet
Communication
Not only did innovators make it possible to accomplish
almost every task possible on their phones, but they made it possible on
computers and laptops too. One of the latest inventions that aid many areas of
work, specifically the social media and business world, is Skype. Skype is a
VoIP or voice-over-internet Protocol, that lets people communicate with both
visual and audio. Sweedish, Niklas Zennstrom, founded Skype in 2003. Skype
allows individuals to communicate by voice, visual image, and instant messaging,
almost as if they were sitting in front of each other; however they made be in
a different city, or as far as halfway across the world. This not only allows
people in the business world to communicate and make transactions with each
other, but it also permits family and friends to have interactions from
anywhere in the world (D. Gregory).
Legal
and Ethical Concerns
With the new and improved means of technology developing,
there was also a wide range of problems that arose. Many found that is was
extremely easy to get into trouble with the law, and their friends and family. Another
reason why things such as Facebook was an issue is because, employers were
beginning to look up their employees or potential applicants; some people
interests and pictures were either getting them fired, or decreasing their
chance of getting the potential job. Even though Facebook, twitter and other
social media sites have security settings, there is no guarantee that their
information and pictures will be private to all. This has caused many issues in
the sense that some people these resources helpful and others find them to be
an invasion of privacy (Info-Culture).
Security
Affairs
With the invention of Skype and various social media
sites, there has been a significant increase in the amount of bullying being
committed; it is much more simple to harass and ridicule someone from behind a
computer than to their face. Furthermore, words sometime even mean more than
actions themselves. This is one of the central themes behind discussion in
Middle and High Schools; cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking is becoming
increasingly more of a problem. Cyber-bullying is a huge problem among
teenagers and middle school students. One of the major reasons that
cyber-bullying is more effective in hurting and destroying ones self esteem is
that, the words or actions committed are available to the public, not just the
people who witnessed something such as a fight. Victims are also much easier
found online due to the fact that many people do not make their accounts or
information private; this being one of the largest problems occurring with the
creation of these new technologies. Cyber-stalking
is another serious security concern. Once again, this is an issue present in
kid’s lives more than adults. Kids are more susceptible to talk to strangers
because they think they are being friendly, or they think they may know the
person. Parents have the biggest concern in this certain topic because there
have been certain instances when cyber-stalking left the technological world
and became a part of the real world; this meaning face-to-face interactions
(Spreading The News).
Conclusion
The greatest factor that seems to be the major primacy
behind these technological advancement’s, is accessibility and handiness. The
most modernized products on the market have been fast, small, and having large
capacities. Being able to send someone a message and receive a reply in seconds
is a phenomenal resource to people. On the other hand being able to use one
single device in order to make a phone call, take a picture, use a calculator,
listen to music, watch videos, and communicate with others is outstanding. These
capabilities are things humans take for granted everyday, however if we stop
and think about what we did before all of these advancements, people would soon
realize how dependent we are on technology. Many believe that America’s
reliance on technology is sad, while others believe that it is a tool that
continues to help build our society to the best it can possibly be! Regardless
of our societies point of view on the matter of Communication Technology, it is
extremely evident that without these brilliant and genius innovations, our
lives would not be the same, and society would not be as prosperous as it is
today. We can only hope that the future hold more developments and advances in
technology, specifically Communication Technology.
Reference Page:Bibliograhpy
Voucher,
Mark. Unified Communication to Make Remote
Interaction Easy. July 6, 2011. http://www.1888articles.com/author-mark-voucher-42924.html
“Spreading
the news: The American postal system from Franklin to Morse.” January
16, 1995,. http://www.fi.edu/learn/case-files/communication.html
D. Gregory, The friction of distance?
Information circulation and the mails in early nineteenth-century England, J.
Historical Geography, 13 (1987), 130-154.
H. L. Webb, The Development of the Telephone in Europe, Electrical Press,
1910.
“New
Communication Technologies”, September 28, 2011.,
U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Trends in the U.S.
International Telecommunications Industry, Sept. 1999. http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/stats
.
“Info-Culture”.
October 7, 1993,. http://www.fi.edu/learn/case-files/communication.html
Rogers,
Everett M. “Communication technology: the new ... - Everett M. Rogers - Google
Books”,
October 3, 2011.,
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