The Advancements of Communication and Media in 50 years

by: Hazel Joy Nono and Myla Mae Pahamutang

Communication is one of the primary necessities of humans. Through it, we can obtain knowledge, express thoughts, and build relationships with other people. We, the people of the 21st century are blessed enough to have easier access to communication, however, this kind of privilege can’t be said about our ancestors before.

To communicate in the past was to spend a great deal of effort and money on mediums used to do such activity. However, due to societal developments, people eventually evolved from using non-verbal communication and smoke signals in 1800 BC to a writing system and a basic telecommunication process from 150 BC and 1876 respectively (Doyle, 2017).

Nowadays, communication is faster and easier than before. With the invention of different technologies, people would not even need to leave the comforts of their beds just to send messages. Almost all of the things we need to do can be done through various applications. There are already developed applications for food delivery, banking transactions, dating, books, shows, movies, and even online schools and markets for shopping.

In this kind of phasing and feedback from people, possibly more advanced apps and devices will be invented to provide more convenience.

With these, it is also not far from reality that people wouldn’t even give the effort to go outside to get things done. Print companies will slowly go bankrupt, restaurants, malls, banks, and other institutions will lessen as well because several researches state that people would rather choose the easiest and effortless way to do their day to day activities (Oaklander, 2015).

Indeed, communication is advanced compared to before but we should never let it take the essence of our humanity: to work hard for our goals and experience the different moments of our lives to the fullest with the people we cherish.

(Disclaimer: We do not own any of the photos shown. All credit for these photographs belong to their respective owners.)

References:

Doyle, J.P. (2017). History of Communication Technology. Retrieved from: conferencecallsunlimited.com/history-of-communication-technology/

Oaklander, M. (2015). Here’s Proof that People Are Wired to be Lazy. Retrieved from: https://time.com/4027942/lazy-walking-exercise/

What will communication and media be like 50 years from now?

By Mara Cheriz Arcenal & Keziah T. Gallo

The future of communication and media has a myriad of opportunities and innovations to offer. Thanks to technology, communication is now just a click away. However, this was not the case back then. Many years ago, communication and media were quite different in comparison to what they are today. From writing a letter stroke by stroke in 500 B.C. to delivering a telegraph by horse in the 1970’s, message transmission has been progressing evidently, even before (Szabo L.V., 2014). Communication has developed despite distances when telephone lines and radio signals were introduced in 1890 and 1891. Media history was shaped when the television was created in the 1920’s and computer networks rapidly modified technology and thus, emerged the Internet in the 20^th century.

Social Media Network. Photo by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. Retrieved August 30, 2019, from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/social-media-social-network-3758364/

In the coming years, the possibility of inventions that were once considered far-fetched ideas could bring forth a digital culture with ease and convenience. Such predictions include the fast-charge battery, the language-translator, and robots or androids (Sterkenburg T., 2012). The Age of Graphene industrializes a fast-charging battery in replacement of the lithium ion battery for all types of gadgets. Moreover, a language-translating device would be made available to bridge the language barrier between locals and foreigners while travelling. Likewise, Artificial Intelligence robots or androids may take over by answering company phone calls for queries, providing data and displaying presentations in schools, giving directions to tourists, scanning for medical diagnoses and more.

Artificial Intelligence. Photo by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. Retrieved September 2, 2019, from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/artificial-intelligence-brain-think-4389372/

From this, we can infer that there is a vast difference in our daily life in the past, today in the present, and 50 years from now in the future. By now, we should expect and be open to changes in the trends of communication. Lastly, we should observe proper usage of these things once it is made available to us.

Altmann G. (2019) Artificial Intelligence. Retrieved September 1, 2019, from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/artificial-intelligence-brain-think-4389372/

Altmann G. (2018) Social Media Network. Retrieved August 30, 2019, from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/social-media-social-network-3758364/

Sterkenburg T. (2012) What’s the future of communication? Let’s ask the experts. Retrieved August 24, 2019, from https://thenextweb.com/media/2012/07/15/whats-the-future-of-communication-lets-ask-the-experts/

Szabo L.V. (2014) The Future of Communication: from New Media to Postmedia. Retrieved August 24, 2019, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814063848

What will communication be 50 years from now?

by: Joshua Pionelo & Rica Mae Quidato

Through the years, communication has evolved significantly. The whole system of communication has been revamped tremendously through the incorporation of technology. The way we communicate is entirely different from ancient times. Previously, conveying is constrained to relational collaboration – individual to individual. Until it advanced to alphabets, signs and images, letters, and phone. Today, the Internet era has paved the way to innumerable means of communication.

Innovation has in fact reclassified correspondence. Individuals never again need to hang tight for quite a long time, months, weeks, and days to get data or message. Today, writings, messages, tweets, and individual messages can arrive at the beneficiary in merely a question of seconds.

928-300x336 — telepathic communication. [Online image]. Retrieved August 28, 2019 from http://operationmeditation.com/discover/telepathic-communication-nine-questions-answered/

In the distant future, we may be able to communicate by sending our thoughts through a network directly into someone else’s brain (Strickland, 2010). Bio implants or technologies embedded in our body for communication might become also a reality in the future for bio-implants have been used for indicators for our body in the medical field (Teshome and Kibret, 2018).

digital-age-face-to-face-communciation — digital age face – to – face communication. [Online image]. Retrieved August 24, 2019 from https://blog.ferrovial.com/en/2017/02/disappearance-of-face-to-face-conversation/

Unfortunately, the advancement of communication through the assistance of technology is not all rainbow and sunshine. Along with the innovation of long-distance communication is the pervasive shyness that developed within us. “Technology has made us shy away from face to face conversation” and this has extremely negative consequences, because “conversation is the basis of democracy and business, it supports empathy and is essential for friendship, love, learning, and productivity” (Salgado, 2017).

In no time, everything around us will be changed dramatically and these changes will be unnoticeable. We will just be realizing it one day that though the way we live our lives every day has become easier, the time we spend on new technology and social media is immensely increasing thus creating less time for real-life interactions (Eastman, 2013). As these kinds of lifestyle will grow, verbal and face to face communication will be nearly forgotten and become a mere trend in the past.

References

Kaul, V. (2012). The Changing World of Media & Communication. Journal of Mass Communication and Journalism, 2:116. doi:10.4172/2165-7912.1000116

Stricklan, J. (2010, April 12). What is the future of communication?. Retrieved from https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/future-of-communication1.htm

Salgado, A. (2017, February 28). so easy, yet so difficult… the disappearance of face to face conversation. Retrieved August 24, 2019, from https://blog.ferrovial.com/en/2017/02/disappearance-of-face-to-face-conversation/

Teshome, A. K., Kibret, B., & Lai, D. T. (2018). Wireless Implant Communications Using the Human Body. In M. Khosrow-Pour, D.B.A. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition (pp. 6319-6334). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-2255-3.ch550