Communication
Changes in the way we communicate can be technical sometimes, but we can explain everything much easier for you. Let’s go on a journey together and explore the past, present and futures of communication!
The past
Think about how people used to communicate… In the prehistoric era, people would communicate with smoke signals. Thousands of years later, they improved and started using pigeons to carry letters for them! A few centuries after that, things started accelerating in the 1800s when the telegraph was invented, think of this as the great-grandpa of wired Internet! Afterwards, the communication improvements were made faster and faster, going from the first telephone leading all the way to where we are today.
The present
You probably know all about communication in the present. Do you text with your friends or do you FaceTime them? Do you even make phone calls anymore or do you just use WhatsApp calls? When was the last time you sent an SMS?
Means of communication have advanced a lot. In 2021, we already have 5G networks that allow us to send texts now and receive them only 1 millisecond later. That’s really impressive when you know that only 200 years ago, it took 12 days (1 trillion milliseconds) for a letter from London to reach New York by telegraph!
It’s not only about speed, though. Communication of emotions has also changed. For example, let’s talk about emojis: they allow you to express certain feelings and emotions that are difficult to put into words. It’s the same for gifs or memes.
The futures, what’s next?
You might be wondering, what can be better than virtually real-time communication? People are getting creative at using both old and new channels of communication. Let’s have a look at promising futures channels:
5G: even though we already have 5G in some areas, for it to be used to its true potential we would need to have 5G antennas everywhere in the world. Think about the fact that, in a couple of years, you will have top-speed internet no matter where you go around the world!
SMS marketing: people used to use SMS to talk to each other. However, nowadays, SMSs have been replaced by instant-messaging channels on social media like Messenger and WhatsApp. However, it seems like companies will keep using SMSs more and more to send you promotions, verification codes for your accounts, or reminders about loyalty campaigns.
VR: Virtual Reality technology allows people to come together in a virtual space by simply wearing a headset. Facebook has already made a VR social media app like that, it’s called Facebook Horizon. Click here to learn more!
