Telephone
Media Technology
While the development of the telephone is, in my opinion, perhaps one with the greatest impact on interpersonal communications, I would not say it is the greatest achievement in media technology. The telephone came about by the need for people to communicate faster and more efficiently. Telephone technology is basically “an instrument which converts sound to electrical impulses of various frequencies, and then back to a tone that sounds like the original voice” (Henderson, n.d.). Telephone technology has developed from units dependent on being linked to each other through miles of cable (i.e. “land lines) and routed through switchboards, to wireless cellular phones dependent on tower receiving and transmitting. There are still applications for land lines and satellite phone services, particularly for business and facsimilie use, however the biggest growth has been in the cell phone market. Telephones have evolved from numbered rotary dials to push buttons, then on to digital touch screens. Today, one’s “smart phone” has replaced numerous gadgets as it has the ability to be not only a phone, but a personal computer, navigator, calculator, alarm clock, encyclopedia research tool, and still photo and movie camera with editing capability, to name just a few applications. Games can be played on phones, often over the internet against other players. Communication with others is not limited to voice interaction, but now people can see each other through real-time video, or they can text (type) in messages to each other and send video or photo files to each other through their phone. Movies can be watched on “smart phones” as well as created. The possibilities seem endless. That said, advertisers have found ways to promote their products through telephone media technology, and it is extremely effective.