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Berenice Hernandez
Professor Griffith
English-113B 11:00 AM MW
22 February 2016
From Smoke Signals to Cellphones
From smoke signals to cellphones, throughout the years humans have developed ways to
communicate with one another. Communication now has evolved alongside with technology and
it has made an impact in peoples lives. Communication comes in all sorts of ways. There were
previous methods of communications (smoke signals, carrier pigeon, telegraph, landlines, ect.),
and current ones such as email, chat, texts, and video. The web has developed many types of
methods of communication that has helped people communicate better. All these ways of
communication have evolved in such an extraordinary way that it is beginning to bring a lot of
controversy on how it is being used among children, teens, and adults.
Communication began to evolve since the beginning of 200 BC. In the article From
Smoke Signals to Smartphones The creators of the Samsung Galaxy gave a timeline of the
evolution of technology and it started with Smoke signals and ended with a smartphone.
According to the article smoke signals were the oldest form of visual communication. Smoke
signals were used as a tool of communication when ever someone was in distress (an S.O.S).
Another form of a previous us method of communication were the carrier pigeons. Carrier
pigeons would be train to send out messages miles away from their homes. After the carrier
pigeons technology soon gave birth to a new form of communication, the telegraph, which was
first introduced in 1834 by Samuel Morse. This new form of communication transmitted electric
signals (Morse Code) over wires which then translated into messages and were sent to various

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locations around the world. Once the telegraph began to die down Antonio Meucci was given
credit for inventing the first basic landline in 1849. A landline for many that do not recognize
such a word is a form of telephone that had a long cord hanging through one end and connected
to another part of the phone. This invention was just the beginning of many greater inventions of
technology such as the web.
The web began to evolve and it started off with emails. Emails came in the form of
personal, school, or work. Personal emails usually ended in yahoo, Gmail, or Hotmail. School
emails usually ended in edu and work emails ended in Gmail, or yahoo. These emails were used
as a form of communication throughout friends, colleagues, and co-workers. Once emails were
created technology wasnt far away from making it better.
Chat came along and it introduced to social media and messenger. Social media was first
created with a website called Six Degrees. Six Degrees was created in 1997 and it enabled
users to upload a profile of them and also it allowed them to make friends with other users.
Unfortunately for the students in my generations we only remember the social media called
Myspace and further websites made after Myspace. Social media later on introduced Facebook,
Snapchat, Instagram, twitter and many others. All of these websites began to gain thousands of
users that are still currently active. Messenger was also a form of social media where users were
able to communicate with one another.
Once social media began to expand technology and electronic devices began to expand as
well. Steve Jobs was known for creating a smart phone called apple. Ever since then it has only
been advancing. These types of cellphones were used to send text messages which was a faster
way of contacting someone if they werent online on their social media webpage. Once messages
began to be accepted video came along. People would meet and greet others through online chat

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or just catch on with a friend through FaceTime and skype. FaceTime was already included in
smartphones and in tablets. Other apps such as skype had to be downloaded for those phones that
did not include FaceTime (Android phones in particular). These two forms of communication
soon became part of peoples daily lives and is now usually a routine for others.
Technology has advanced so much that it is insane to even think about it. Some are
calling it a blessing and others are calling it a mess. The evolution of technology has also
changed the perspective of people and it began to affect young children and how they grow.
Some began to argue that the evolution of technology was too much for kids and that their brains
were not developing properly. Cris Rowan, a Pediatric occupational therapist created an article
called 10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under the Age of
12. In this article Rowan explains her point of view in technology and kids how the use of
technology is actually hurting children and their growth development. Children in the 21st
centaury are attached to technology more than ever and this might be a problem. According to
the article Cris Rowan explains how technology is actually doing more harm than good. For
example, when Rowan states that 60% of parents do not supervise their childs technology
usage. 75% of children aged 9 and 10 years are sleep deprived to the extant that their grades are
detrimentally impacted Rowan is explaining how technology is negatively impacting childrens
lives and can later on have consequence as they get older.
Although Rowan believes that technology is harming children Megan Egbert thinks
otherwise. Megan Egbert is a librarian, blogger, and a mother that fully supports the usage of
technology with her children. Megan Egbert responded to Rowans article my stating
experiences that she has had with technology and her kids. Megan states that There are children
who are motivated by technology. They are future coders. Future designers. Future engineers.

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She believes that technology will help children decide what they want to become in the future.
Technology is being used all around the world including in the classrooms. Technology is
advancing rapidly and some might even be scared. Technology plays a big role in everyones
lives but it should not be taken for granted either. The usage of technology will one day take over
and we will have to rely on it for everything.
Some forms of communication like social media can actually bring harm to people
because it can contain false information or it may harm kids in a more emotionally way. One of
the most popular social media that is currently and often being used is Facebook. Facebook has
been around since 2004 and is still currently growing and being used by millions around the
world as well as the social media websites. These social media websites allow anyone to
communicate with one another quickly. Although it is great to know that technology is evolving
it seems to have a great impact in peoples lives and others not so much. In an article created by
Jessica Grogan called Is Facebook Distorting Your View of the World? Grogan explains how
Facebook changed her perspective in seeing things in the real world. Grogan states that in 2012
Norwegian researchers developed a scale composed a scale com of Likert ratings based on the
following criteria some of the criteria consisted of users spending a lot of time thinking about
Facebook and how they plan on using it, that Facebook is used in order to forget about personal
problems, and that Facebook is being used too much that it creates a problem it negatively
impacts school/work. This shows how social media, Facebook in particular, has been changing
peoples lives.
Although technology can give a negative impact it can also be considered an achievement
for others. Social media and technology in general are a good source to find things out things
quickly and can help learn new things. In social media users are always reposting and posting

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things that serve as news. Communication wise it helps spread the word if there ever is an
emergency to be delivered. It also helps as a tool to learn new things and expand our knowledge
in everything. Technology helps develop the brain in young children. For example, students learn
to read through eBooks and flashcards used in apps. Many believe that technology is not setting
the right example for kids because of the content it exposes through as social media and other
forms of communication.
Technology has advanced so much that sometimes it is even hard to keep up. We have
gone from smoke signals to telegraphs to landlines and now through social media on the internet.
All these forms of communication are still being used today. Smoke signals are known for a cry
for help, telegraphs (The Morse Code) is used in the U.S military as form of communication.
Landlines (The ancient extinct telephone) are not in current use but it has evolved for families to
have house phones. Now everyone is usually updated with the technology on their phones all the
social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and messenger. All of these
forms evolved from being a natural communication to being increased by technology. Although
technology is believed to be harmful to young children it can also be used as a tool to learn new
things through the media and to be updated with the latest news. Technology should not be taken
for granted but it should be taken advantage of because who knows one-day technology might
stop evolving. One thing is for sure that Technology will continue on to surprise us at times. Now
it is just a matter of time before someone decides to come up with a new way to improve the
quality of communication that is already available for us. Hopefully it is soon enough because
not a lot of us are getting any younger.

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Cited Works
Galaxy 4, Samsung. "From Smoke Signals to Smartphones: The Evolution of
Communication." Mashable. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
Rowan, Cris. "10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under
the Age of 12." 02 February 2015. Print.
Egbert, Megan. "10 Reasons Why I Will Continue to Give My Children Handheld
Devices." 24 May 2014. Print.