Old Information Technologies

The readings this week that discussed the old information technologies were quite interesting to me. In the first reading when James Carey discussed the telegraph I was surprised to read that the telegraph is the least studied communication technology. I would think that it would have been studied the most since it was one of the first technologies that could connect someone in California to someone in New York. I enjoyed the quote from Carey's reading that emphasized that people saw electricity as "shadowy, mysterious, impalpable. It lives in the skies and seems to connect spiritual and material." It just goes to show how much more people know about electricity and technology today then they did back when it all first started. Today you could ask an elementary student about how electricity works and I am sure they could tell you what goes on. It just shows that we have really been able to advance ourselves in the past century. The second reading talked about the radio and how it gave people a sense of loss. I believe that this was because the radio pretty much overtook the nation and gave people something else to do besides read the evening paper and have family time. This is the same effect that television and the internet has had on the society today. With the capabilities of being able to use the internet in the car or the movie theater there isn't always a chance to have family time and just talk. The television also took over family time since so many people today have televisions in their kitchens. A home cooked meal isn't necessarily shared around a big table with everyone laughing and talking...most of the time in my experience the television is in the background keeping more attention on what is going on there then what is going on in your own life. The part of the reading that said that people predicted that classes would be held as one super institution over the radio makes me think a lot about what people say today about the internet. You can get almost any degree by just hoping on the internet and taking some classes. I think it is absolutely brilliant because of its convience, but I know that many others don't agree. I believe that the technology today in a way shadows what the technology was back then. Now a days it is just a lot more high tech and swarmed with a lot more information.