The Evolution of Communication!

Over the years communication has evolved and progressed in many ways. Every technology has been outdone by something new and better. It began with oral communication, and then progressed to writing messages in letters. From there, we went on to telegrams, newspapers, the radio and the telephone. As the years went on, the internet came into the picture, along with the invention of cellphones. We now have numerous ways of communicating with each other without even having to get out of our seats or even being in person; it’s all done through the various means of technology.

Our generation today, is very dependent on the use of cellphones. Almost everywhere I go, I see people either talking on the phone, texting or BBM-ing! I have even seen children as young as 8 or 9 holding around their very own cellphone. I was shocked to hear that my little cousin, who recently turned 10, received the new 9900 BlackBerry Bold for her birthday. I was actually more jealous of her than anything else because I, a 16-year-old, high school student still do not have a cellphone! I know, my life is sounding pretty sad right about now. In my opinion, there is no need for a cellphone for people under the age of 14. Cellphones are a great way of keeping in touch with family and friends. They are also a good way of quickly contacting anyone from almost anywhere. Cellphones appeal more to teenagers because of texting. Texting is an easy way of having conversations with each other without actually having to be in person and also a great way of staying connected. Texting even has its own language attached to it. Instead of having to type out a whole paragraph, you can easily shorten it with crazy acronyms and different emoticons. For example, lol: laughing out loud, brb: be right back, atm:  at the moment, omw: on my way, STHUG: shut the hell up guy, and even, habaeiwsotcwtat!- holding a banana and eating it while sitting on the couch watching television and tweeting! Okay, I made the last one up, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be long until we are all using it.  

In addition to cellphones, the internet also plays a big role in the evolution of communication. Browsing the web allows people to quickly keep in touch with family, friends, and even people they don’t even necessarily know. With the internet comes numerous social networking websites such as, Facebook, MySpace, and the more recent ones, Google Plus, and Twitter. Using these websites can easily get you information about anyone and anything. You can also easily “Google” something and find various websites to give you all the information. These social networking websites are a great way of keeping in touch with family and friends, meeting new people, keeping up-to-date and even becoming famous. Youtube and Tumblr are a great of getting yourself out there and being noticed. The internet has almost no restrictions, not even distance. You can keep in touch with people over seas and maybe even from a different planet! Okay, maybe not a different planet, but when everyone has to move to Mars, I’m pretty sure I’ll still be tweeting about the red sidewalks. However, there is a negative to these websites. These website are an easy way of giving bullies a sense of power over their target. Since these people are hiding behind a computer screen, it makes it easier to type out hurtful and harmful things about a certain person. Another down side to the internet is that students can easily cheat on certain assignments by plagiarising someone else’s work. There are many things the internet has given us and I’m actually pretty excited to see what new innovations are to come.

To sum it all up, commination has come a long way since my mom and dad were teenagers. It really makes me wonder how they got through high school without the use of Google! It’s great to see that there really are no limitations to keep in contact with almost everyone from all over the world.  J