The evolution of human communication

Humans are relational beings. We are social subjects that rely on one another to exist.

As we evolved through time, we’ve naturally evolved the way in which we communicate. While today’s digital media landscape may be a bit overwhelming, we can look to our past for comfort. History reveals how humans have adapted to technological advancements that increase the flow of information.

The evolution of human communication can be summarized as follows:

1. Oral Language (30,000 to 100,000 years ago)

2. Cave Drawings (about 15,000 B.C.)

3. The Written Word (5,000 B.C.)

4. The Printing Press (around 1450)

5. The Telegraph (1844)

6. The Radio (1920s)

7. Television (became more wide-spread in the 1950s)

8. Digital Technology

Each new form of communication resulted in an easier exchange of information, which lead to a democratizing influence on the world. More people with access to information equals more people with the ability to question the way our world operates.

We moved from shamans to tribal leaders, from tribal leaders to kings and city-states, from city-states to nations. Each change, in turn, forced existing power elites to try to exploit communication in order to reorganize and direct the energy democratization released at the grassroots level (Kovach and  Rosenstiel 13).

The formation of larger communities, democratization and the reorganization of social structures exhibit patterns associated with technological advancements in the way we communicate. There’s another pattern worth noting as well—tension, which Kovach and Rosenstiel describe by the following: 

And as it reorganized social order, each change in popular communications was accompanied by a renewal of tension between two strands of knowledge or ways of trying to understand existence: the tension between knowledge based on observation and experience and knowledge grounded on faith and belief—the tension between fact and faith (13).

So how does all of this apply to the digital age? Let’s take a closer look at how we adapted to each advancement prior to digital technology.

The Written Word

Unlike oral language, the written word is more permanent.  A story told orally could easily be forgotten or altered when retold by others. Yet, the written word provided an outlet for more reliable, precise communications. For the first time:

  One could experience the precise thoughts and observations of an unknown and unseen person (14).

The three most important qualities of the written word include permanence, complexity and mobility.

The Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg developed the printing press around 1450, and the world has never been the same since.

The printing press spurred a printing revolution. Mass production of books was now possible, which allowed new universities independent of religious orders to surface. The reading public also began to grow, and the circulation of ideas continued to expand.

The printing press made it possible for the field of journalism to take shape. The first newspapers started to appear around 1604 in Germany, England and France. These new avenues of information made it possible for individuals to question and challenge the information given by established authorities. 

Gradually but inexorably the notion grew that even the lowliest person in a community had the right to a personal opinion and that opinion should be heard in the councils of government (16).

Journalism transformed what was known as common or vulgar opinion into public opinion,which we still refer to today.

And with the spread of information came an even more powerful concept: the idea that people could be self-governing (16).

Democracy itself is a product of the evolution of communication.

The Telegraph

In 1844, John Morse developed a new form of communication that allowed people to interact almost instantly across long distances. Morse’s telegraph used electric signals of dots and dashes to transmit language electronically through wires. 

This new means of communication birthed the concept of news as factual information independent of the observer. Only two years after Morse’s telegraph was put to use the Associated Press formed in 1846.

Morse’s telegraph combined with the AP resulted in presenting the news in an inverted pyramid style, meaning the most important information is stated near the top of a story.

The Radio

While the telegraph allowed people to discover new information in the matter of minutes or hours, the radio, which came about in the 1920s, offered a way for people to hear the news for themselves.

With the radio, news consumers didn’t need to be literate—newscasts were transmitted nationwide. Newspapers tended to be more community based, so national newscasts helped unite fragmented populations that formed during the industrial revolution. 

The radio rivaled newspapers because people no longer needed to read the news to learn the facts. People could simply turn on the radio and hear the facts broadcasts before the newspapers were even printed.   This caused some newspapers to become more sensationalized, and the “tabloid” era was born.

Television

Twenty years after the radio, television made its debut. Now people had the choice to either read, listen or watch the news.

Yet, it wasn’t until the 1950s until the medium really took off. During the 1950s national political conventions started being televised. In 1963, network evening news doubled its airtime from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. Less than a year later, television became the primary new source for Americans. 

With newspapers, readers could pick and choose what articles they wanted to read, skipping stories that didn’t interest them. Radio made the news more intimate and national. But television unified it (19).

In the early years of television news, there were two newscast in which the majority of Americans received their news — NBC and CBS. ABC was still in the future. A lack of alternatives meant more Americans would view the same newscasts on a daily basis.

Unlike reading a newspaper, viewers of televised news can’t pick and choose which stories to consume. A lack of choice leads to what social scientists call “incidental news acquisition,” when people learn about things they might not be interested in. While “incidental news acquisition” has its benefits, televised news also helped nationalize politics to a whole new level.

Newspapers reacted to television by making content more analytical with deeper coverage to target a more educated audience. However, newspapers couldn’t match the images offered by television.

With the civil rights movement, the images pouring into American homes of brutal public and police reactions to peaceful protesters in the South made it impossible for the political system to continue to ignore the challenges raised by black Americans’ demand for equal rights (20). 

Television endured another major shift in 1980 with the birth of CNN—cable news.

CNN shook up the news industry by offering continuous news and breaking up the control of national and international news by the three leading television networks.

Digital Technology

The digital technology shift is happening now and has been for some time.

Here’s a breakdown of a few shifts that have taken place between 2000 and 2008:

In 2000, only 46 of adults in the United States used the internet. By 2008, 74 percent did so.In 2000, only 5 percent had high-speed Internet at home. By 2008, 58 percent did.In 2000, only 50 percent of Americans owned a cell phone. By 2008, 82 percent did.In 2000, no one in America was wirelessly connected to the internet. In 2008, 62 percent of Americans were (22).

We are progressively moving to a digital era, and no one has yet to perfect a self-sustaining business model. Digital technology handicaps ad revenue for news agencies. Innovative techniques are needed to address this issue.

Whatever the future news structure, the history of communications suggests that the old technologies will not disappear. But they will change, becoming smaller and playing a different role. Communication’s history also suggests that new technologies do not change human nature. They simply allow us to express and satisfy our curiosity about the world beyond our own direct experience in different ways (24).

Work Cited:

• Kovach, Bill, and Tom Rosenstiel. Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of Information Overload. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2010. Print.

Originally published Feb. 14, 2014.