Jennifer Evans
The Telephone: Then and Now
HUMN 303: Introduction to the Humanities
Instructor E. Elliott
February 11, 2011
The Telephone: Then and Now The telephone was one of the greatest American inventions. Developed in the 1800’s by Alexander Graham Bell, it quickly became one of the most used inventions in the world. The telephone had many impacts on society and the way we communicated and still plays a huge role in the world we live today. The telephone has developed from something that was not a necessity to something people must have. The telephone opened the door for communications across the world and played a part in the development of personal and business cultures by allowing people from different countries the
…show more content…
They affect our lives in ways that we may not even know. One of the most influential, and controversial, inventions has been that of the telephone (Shulman, 2008). When the telephone was introduced it was met with some resistance and a few technical problems. As time passed it became so accepted that almost everyone in the western world had a telephone. The telephone was marketed in that it would increase revenue, employment, and an improve communication (Telephone calls for all, 2007). During World War II, the telephone systems were destroyed in the war stricken countries and the US remained intact (Farley, 2005). The military had already developed radio communications but the telephone was still just a landline. This gave the United States a jump in the invention of mobile communications (Farley, 2005). Doctor Martin Cooper developed the modern day cell phone (Farley, 2005). He invented the technology responsible for the cell phone when he was the Director of Research and Development at Motorola (Farley, 2005). Dr. Martin Cooper is also known as the first person to make a call on a cell phone and his famous first call took place in April of 1973 in New York (Farley, 2005). Cell phones and internet have become the most widely used means of communication and we are in a culture of mobile dependence. Everywhere we go people are on their cell phones or on the internet. Businesses use free access to the
The telephone completely changed how we communicate. Alexander Bell was a professor at Boston University when he built a device that allowed people to see speech in the form of sound-wave vibrations. This made Mr. Bell believe that somehow he could make sound waves turn into an electrical current and back into sound waves. After lots of studying electricity and conducting lots
One of the many scientific discoveries that have influenced today’s society is the invention of the cell phone. In 1876 an older male with the name of Alexander
The first mobile phones, due to its “smaller” size, would still be considered very large in today’s world. Many of the early cell phones were considered “car phones” because they were shaped like a brick and could not fit into one's pocket. The first cell phone was called the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x and was commercially available in 1983. The cellular technology to call these phones was analog frequencies. In the early 2000’s, cell phones became smaller is size and the software got faster. The introduction of the Blackberry popularized the use of the technology allowing more and more people to be involved. Cell phones became popular with the introduction of text messaging, short messages that can be sent to another person. Texting has become an easier and quicker form of communicating with others. Teenagers and children grew to love this feature as a main form of communication. They took on this mainly because it is very private and did not have to be loud in a situation that was not appropriate. “Today’s teens will carry the technology with them as a part of their repertoire of communication possibilities. Where older generations, when
Telephone popularity saw an increase in the early 1900's. The telephone began to appear all over the place. The telephone began to be looked upon as a necessity, "By this time the telephone was settling into national consciousness as a fixed and permanent part of American life."2 The telephone allowed people to interact with other types of individuals, and this ability intrigued the American public. The telephone made it possible for contact to take place with people who normally can not because of being apart by large distances. People want to communicate quickly with others, and the telephone makes this happen. By this time the telephone was not a luxury good, but necessary for survival. Cities especially, saw the telephone as an essential part of society; "Literally telephone service is a life-and-death matter to the citizens of every urban community in America."3 Although the telephone was popular in cities, it was surprisingly popular in the rural Midwest. The telephone created a need to know what took place in the world. The Midwest was not as densely populated and the telephone developed an excellent way to communicate the news of the day amongst surrounding communities. Before, one would have to rely on the news spreading via word
The telephone was invented in 1870 by Gray and Bell, who then battled over the true inventor of the telephone, which Bell won. Bell then began experimenting with electrical signs, which brought the telegraph to be an established means of communication (Bellis). In 1876, Bell made his first call to Thomas A. Watson in March. People thought Bell’s invention was a toy, but later people wanted a phone installed in their homes, towns, or
In the modern-day world, there are about 6.8 billion cell phone subscriptions. Mobile telephones have really changed the way we do things in our daily life. Before cell phones were invented individuals were more interactive with each other. In the late 1900’s, Martin Cooper invented the first mobile telephone. Today we have a variety of mobile phones to choose from such as Apple and Samsung. Widespread cell phone use has definitely affected the world negatively because it is a distraction, can be harmful, and addicting.
This was the Motorola PynaTAC 8000x. Although it was extremely expensive, it still diffused across the country hierchically. Still, not many people could afford it, besides in the sales and business world, where it was primarily used. After this revolutionary telephone, the Nokia Mobica Talkman and the Motorola 2900 Bag Phone released. As more phones came out, the new phones kept developing including smaller sizes and more uses. (Ray). 34 years after the first ever cell phone released, the Apple IPhone was release, courtesy of Steve Jobs. This cell phone revolutionized the world forever. Jobs wanted to “reinvent the phone”, and he did this exceptionally (History Cooperative). Without the creation of the cell phone, our world would be a much different place. Even though the cell phone improved our ways of life, there are still some atrocious aftereffects caused by it.
The Telephone - invented in 1876, is defined as a system that converts vibrations into sound over a long distance using a wire or radio and is an extremely purposeful Canadian invention. The Telephone was made to audibly communicate with other people that are far away instantly. Prior to the invention of this machine, long distance communication was achieved by telegraph, which was much less efficient and took longer. In 1871, a man named Alexander Graham Bell moved to Boston and began work on a device that would allow for the telegraph transmission of several messages at different frequencies. Between 1873 and 1874, Bell spent long hours trying to perfect
If you have ever opened up a phone (do not try this at home, you might
This invention of the telegraph proved how useful long distance communication was in society. This led to more interest in data communication to occur which sparked the invention of the telephone. The telephone was invented in the 1870’s and was designed to convert sound waves into
Phones continued to develop clearer signals and longer ranges. The first cell phone, produced in 1947, was the car phone. However, it only worked when driving on the highway between Boston and New York. In 1973, the first portable phone call was placed, and by 1991 mobile phones were available to the public. By 2001, these newly developed cell phones overshadowed payphones and were an integral part of American daily life.
Cell phones, as we know them haven’t been around for that long. The quick progression of the item and development has enormously influenced the regular daily existence in the general public eye today. It 's implementation has been genuinely quick considering that mobile phones were inexistent a quarter century ago. The first phone was made by Alexander Graham Bell. According to an article, ' 'This brought upon a major change in communication and gave leeway to the improvement of the telephone in the days to come ' '(Bellis, 2013b).
The cell phone today can do just about anything needed, and is an outstanding improvement from when the first cell phone was invented. Major improvements such as its appearance, and its overall usefulness and capability. Though the first cell phone was an extreme breakthrough for modern technology at the time, the technological advancement today has made the cell phone not only extremely handy, but considered by most as a necessity. Only time can tell what future cell phones will be like and how we can compare them to the way we use them
communicate almost anywhere in the world. The cell phone was invented by Dr. Martin Cooper
Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the world has become a smaller place. The time used to travel to far distances has diminished; with the growth of new technologies, traveling and communicating have become simple daily tasks for many people. Through the growth of global communication, people have become closer to others across the globe, and business has gone world wide. One invention that came along with the technological revolution is the cell phone. Cell phones allow us to be reachable anywhere at anytime, letting us communicate even during travel. As time becomes more valuable for people, the importance of accessibility to communication also increases. With cell phones, the communication and