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Communication: Insular to Cellular

Guest post by: Nicolas DAlleva

Article Overview: The cellular telephone, or cell phone, has evolved from humble beginnings to a device that can be compared in usability and productivity to a home computer.

Communication: Insular to Cellular

Since the beginning of human kind, communication has been a key factor in our evolution. Language has become the dominant form of communication and has provided the means for which thought can be expressed in a logical manner. However, if we compare language to words in a book, than communicating devices like the telegraph, telephone, etc., could be compared to the book itself. These contrivances take what is recorded and distribute it to the many, therefore making mass communication possible. One of the most popular devices today utilizing this principle is the cellular phone. A Language is defined as "a system of visual, auditory, or tactile symbols of communication and the rules used to manipulate them." It is impossible to know when the first human thought of the idea to reproduce the same auditory expression to identify a specific object, but we do have evidence of one of the first written languages: the cuneiform script. It is believed that the cuneiform script was made somewhere around 3000 BC by the Sumerians. It consisted of a slab of clay that was scribbled on with a reed: simple, yet effective.

The language itself was one of a pictorial nature, which allowed the author to easily communicate what he was trying to express. This form of communication later evolved into a mode of expression that utilized arbitrary symbols. These arbitrary symbols were tied together with speech to help form an all-encompassing form of communication. With written and spoken languages now working hand in hand, the possibilities for communication seemed to be endless.

Now, even though humans had formed a language that could express everything that one thought, they were still limited by the vastness of their audience. This is to say that one could only relay one's thoughts and ideas to those in his immediate vicinity. Eventually, books and letters would be used to record discourse and transport it to a wider audience. Although, there was still no contrivance that could adequately convey communication in states of urgency or that allowed for instant gratification.

Alexander Graham Bell is often cited as the inventor of the telephone, even though many men are known to have contributed to its creation. The telephone is defined as "an apparatus, system, or process for transmission of sound or speech to a distant point, esp. by an electric device." The key part of that sentence is to a distant point. It was the first device that could adequately and precisely transmit anything expressed verbally anywhere around the world.

Unlike the telegraph, which broke modern language down into a series of electrical breaks and connections, the telephone transmitted and received communication exactly as it was presented. The telephone became a staple in every household and with this came many advantages and disadvantages. The obvious advantages are the fact that anyone could talk to anyone at anytime for any purpose. This allowed for instant gratification and globalization. Humans were no longer restricted by distance and could have their voices heard from around the world.

Although, this came with many disadvantages and they happen to be one in the same as the advantages. Does one really need to be in such easy grasp of everyone in the world? Did the telephone effectively make the world smaller? In 1976, Marshall McLuhan stated that "the automobile was the last place a North American could easily go to be alone." The home was once thought of as a place of protection from unwanted access. The telephone, however, changed the rules and allowed the world access to this sanctuary. The voices of later media like the television and the radio did not know if you were home, but a caller was aware as soon as you answered your phone.

However, people loved the concept of the phone, and as technology began to progress at a rapid rate, new forms were in high demand. The first form of evolution taken on by the telephone was the mobile phone or 2-way-radio. Examples can be seen in the field telephone (mobile phones intended for military use used from the 1910s to the 1960s) and car phones (1980s).

The first mobile telephone to be approved by the FCC was the Motorola DynaTAC, in 1983. The next year, Bell Labs developed "modern cellular technology", which revolves around the concept of multiple cell sites that overlap each other. The phone only has to be strong enough to reach the closest tower and is then bounced from tower to tower. The cell phone began to take off in the 1990s as the technology became smaller, thus more practical.

Once most of America had cell phones, companies competed to offer their clients the latest and greatest bonus features to keep them coming back. As of lately these features have included text messaging, mp3 players, and the Internet, all integrated into the phone. On a side note, I find it funny how text messaging has allowed for a dumbing down of the English language, while phones were originally invented to help us convey our brilliant and brilliant for of communication to the masses. How can we properly express ourselves to a wide audience when half the population can't understand what we are saying? The telephone helped transport language all around the world, and now the modern cell phone is transforming language. But I digress.

With these new features added, it seems as if many people cannot live without their phones anymore. They have become an essential part of our daily existence and help fulfill our desire for constant communication. Now, McLuhan would not even have been able to take comfort in his own car. Unlike McLuhan though, I do not see this as an invasion of my personal space. The modern telephone to me is more of an all in one utensil that helps satisfy all of my greatest inquires and social needs.

The modern cell phone is already on the verge of being hardly a cell phone at all. In the future, I believe that these devices will become an all in one multimedia contrivance. It will not be a cell phone, computer, mp3, etc., but a hybrid of all of these things and much more. We've already seen it's expansive capability with the iPhone, and only the future knows what else we can carry along with us in our pockets.

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Article Tags: cell phone, communication, technology



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