Twenty-five hundred years ago, the only form of communication was thru speech and maybe the occasional writing to keep history. Fifteen-hundred years ago, there was little difference other than the spread of the Bible. Five-hundred years ago it was virtually the same, though more people were literate and able to send and receive letters. One hundred-fifty years ago, Americans were using telegrams in the Civil War to relay information to generals within the hour of them being sent. People could now know what is going on within an hour. A hundred years ago we were developing the system of "calling" someone, where you could speak to them from miles away. Fifty years ago, we were watching the news, something that had to be read on a paper you had to catch from a newsboy, and that didn't exist in Caesar's time. And now, today, we send messages instantly. Not recorded, not thought out often, just our thoughts put onto YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, Emails, Text messages, facetimes, group calls, the list goes on and on.
The speed of communication that allows us to send and receive messages and information seconds after they've been composed is incredible. Somebody could literally start reading this post (not like anybody does right now) one second after I hit "publish". It is incredible, and you must realize how much the mass communication helps universal progress (well, one may ask what universal progress is, how do we know we are advancing, and is that advancement right? I'll answer that later perhaps :) and the lives that have been saved by the communication. Just over two centuries ago, in America, 1812, a large battle was fought, many people died. However, that battle actually happened after the United States and Britain declared peace. The reason why people still fought that battle was because of slow communication. Letters signaling peace wouldn't arrive for days, if not weeks or even months! Today you can send a text and your friend gets it seconds after you send it. Back then, scientists, philosophers, and scholars couldn't really collaborate the way they can today. The best way was after months of planning, meet each other in one location for a period of time. Now people could spend twenty years across seas from each other and still communicate their newest findings to each other almost as if in a regular conversation.
If you've seen the movie Gravity, you've seen what it is like not to have instant communication. We've come to rely on it, and much as it may seem a bad thing to rely on such a hypothetically and metaphorically thin thread, it benefits us very greatly. We can achieve great and amazing things due to this. So next time you send a text message, think about how much quicker it is than it would've been had you been forced to send a letter - that would've traveled on horseback mind you, not a mail truck. Also, a little contemplation, would you spend more time with individual text messages if they took three weeks to arrive at your recipient? Six weeks to get their response, mind you.
So I communicate to you, reader, in a timely manner, to have a splendid day.
