Methods of media and communications have come a long way since the grunts of the early cave men, but every new innovation can bring its own problems.
Ever since the dawn of time, and that’s a really long time ago, people have been communicating with each other. Whether by grunting “your dinner’s in the saber tooth tiger” or by drawings on the walls of caves “three easy steps to killing your first dinosaur,” man has had something to say, to anybody that is willing to listen. Nothing much has changed there then.
So why does media and communications sound so modern? Why does it sound like a 20th century phenomenon?
“What are you studying?”
“Media and Communications.”
“You must be so clever, I don’t even know what that means.”
Our grandparents didn’t really know what ‘media and communications’ was, but they spoke to each other, they read the newspaper, they listened to the radio and they watched the television. They were in a constant state of media and communications and didn’t even know that they were doing it!
Modern Media and Communications
Of course, modern media and communications take on a whole new life. We think of the internet, the communications highway of the 20th and 21st centuries, – who knows what will develop towards the end of this century? We’ll probably be able to communicate by thought, like on Star Trek, and not have to bother opening our mouths at all – could be a bit of a blessing in some cases.
“What was that dear?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh, I thought you thought something.”
“You need to get your brain wave receptors checked.”
Can you imagine the fun you could have with that? Mind you, it would be pretty difficult to keep a secret.
Anyway, back to the internet. Media and communications have been blown away by the innovation of the internet and mobile phones. It can be great for business, great for keeping in touch with family, but let’s be honest; many young people have forgotten how to speak to each other. What do they do instead?
- Grunt – Okay, this is an old one and has been going on since before language was invented, – just a thought, who invented language and who did he have to talk to? Can’t get my head round that one.
- Messenger, Facebook, Twitter – what’s that all about? They sit at their laptops, playing games and ‘twittering’ with each other in a completely foreign language to anybody that has ever taken an English examination. “Who are you talking to dear?” “Oh, loads of people”. People from all over the world. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think that all of these forms of communication are fantastic, but they really have spawned a whole new language and generation of people. Where will it end?
- Text – right, we buy our young people mobile phones, so that they have access to the most convenient method of communication ever, so that we can call them and find out where they are, and they can keep in contact with HQ. What do they do? Text. They text at the speed of light, without even looking, it’s a little worrying that if we don’t do something about it evolution will eventually make future babies born with enormous sized thumbs. Not only that, they don’t even text in proper words.
Rather than being a ‘quick message’ many of us have to:
- Locate reading glasses
- Decipher cryptic message
- Spend 20 minutes trying to say ‘ok’ without it having numbers in the middle of it – why does it do that?
- Then they answer again, just when you’ve put your specs away, and the whole performance starts over
- JUST SPEAK – IT’S GOOD TO TALK