In the 1800s, Americans weren't concerned about cellular devices, computers, ipads and arbitrary, everyday problems that arise with our technology. In that time, they were developing ways to get word out faster then a carriage ride. The train, the fastest form of travel at the time, still only carried people and things at a slow steady rate that could still take days to get halfway across the country. The concern inspired the invention of the telegraph. This new form of communication enabled news - irrelevant and relevant - to be transferred across the nation at a faster rate then the train.
This began our technological revolution that would last for over 200 years, and still be occurring today.
The issue at hand is that before the invention of the telegraph, people were able to control what was in the news, or what they heard of news. The only things that were headlined in the "daily" news were important information. But, with the invention of the telegraph, much news was now considered irrelevant. They were random facts that came through and were more for entertainment. The telegraph, though now more speedy than trains, was ineffective in that it only gave short messages that the receiver would have to decypher. To further this, the invention of "photography" came about. But photography lacked any understanding and any words. It could not capture the essence of objects and the symbols for it, but it could capture a visual of a word. Combining this with the telegraph provided for the epistemology of media.
No matter how slow the process of the telegraph was back in the 1800s, technology was able to advance to what we now have today. We can get headline stories or everyday misdemeanors in the palm of our hands in like, seconds. Technology gives us a whole new world, one that opens us up to other countries and other people. Though we still lack the epistemology of media and the effectiveness of weeding out irrelevant information, technology has saved in one way or another, despite Postman's thoughts on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment