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Karina Martinez
Professor Griffith
English 113B- 11:00 AM MW
22 February 2016
The Change of Communication
How was communication before internet? Before internet was created the communication
back in the modern days was really different from how communication is now in the new days.
Ancients back people would communicate by papyrus, wood, and on cave walls. Communication
over distance was by carrier pigeons, smoke signals, and morse code flags. Over the years
communication has changed a lot and in many different ways. People would send letter to friends
and family if they were far away from each other, but now in these days you dont see anybody
writing letters. This is where the internet was invented and the growth of internet is big. But now
the most popular way of communicating is by social media. The internet has changed the impact
of how people communicate and on how it has changed the way people talk because of
technology.
Communication was different back in the modern days, there was no internet to
communicate with one or another. Before technology was invented there was no way that
communication was so easy. People would have contest to see how loud they can shout a
message to someone, didnt matter how far they were nor how close they were to each other.
After, a while they had people running messages, thats how they would communicate with
others. When running with a message, to convey it in spoken form, it is safer to do it oneself
(History of Communication). There were people that had the job to run messages to whoever
sent them, which was a way of communicating. But it wasnt a job that would be able to rely on

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it because the person that would be receiving the message could have lost the communication
with the other person. This way of communication was verbal there was no writing involved,
which had to cause the person running the message to have a good memory.
Before writing was involved as communicating, caves where another way of
communicating by carving pictures, that was a way the Indians would communicate with others.
But in order to communicate with others they would have to travel to the caves in order to know
the message that was sent to them. Messages carved on stone pillars communicate very well
across time, down through the centuries, but they are an inefficient method of communicating
across space (History of Communication). Carving a message on cave walls or the stone pillars
might have been a waste of time or have failed as communication because by the time the
traveling would happen, the message could have been erased.
As the time kept going communication has enhanced by actually writing, it involved to
know how to write and the more they wrote the vocabulary would get better. In 3100 BC when
writing was the first developing process. This requires yet another ingredient in the
communication package a portable writing material such as papyrus (History of
Communication). Cave walls and stone pillars where a way of communicating but another way
of communicating was using the method of papyrus which was using for long distance
communication. Another way was smoke signals, it was also used for long distance
communication, it didnt involve for people to travel in order to get the message.
Now that internet was being created it has enhanced more how communication works
now in the new days. This is where social media and networks become to be more popular on
communicating with others. People now use emailing to communicate, it can be professional or
non professional. Its easier and reliable to communicate with people because of how the internet

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has changed the way we can contact others. With email you can simply reach someone in the
other end of the world with a click (Guide). The change of communication is way easier than it
was centuries back, because by reaching out to someone people dont need to travel to get to the
message thats waiting for them. Emailing is one way to communicate easy and fast, also its a
free cost with in seconds people can get their messages and with no problem.
Another way of communication that internet has changed during the time after emailing
was invented was social media. Social media is a world wide of communication, its the most
popular way people communicate with others. Websites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter,
LinedIn, and Orkut enable to users to connect with friends and fans (Guide). The most popular
websites that everyone uses now to contact with friends and family either if their far or near by
they use Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is a way to know whats going on with their families
and friends, just by sending a simple message through Facebook can start a conversation in
seconds. As well as twitter with one tweet can also start a conversation, but people can last hours
on these social medias without even knowing it.
Social media can be a big distraction to people. For instance, Facebook a lot of people log
in to their accounts and can last hours looking through what people post up. People last so long
on Facebook or other networks they dont realize how much time they have wasted because their
minds are on just what they are looking at. People dont pay attention to whats going on around
their outside lifes because they are attached to social media. addictiveness of Facebook (or
really any internet use) is disturbing (Grogan). Theres people that are addicted to social media
doesnt matter which one it is, it can get frustrating when somebody is around someone like that
because there always on their device and just looking at stuff that isnt very important. Its not
only frustrating to be around those people that are attached to there device, it can be irritating to

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that person too because the moment that they are not looking at the phones they act different
because their minds are just focusing on what is happening behind the screen.
Social media can cause a negative impact on peoples life style it conflicts with their job
and school. Being on social media can be bad because it pushes them from stuff that is really
important in life. It conflicts to what they have worked hard on. You use Facebook so much that
it has had a negative impact on your job/studies (Grogan). It doesnt just have to be Facebook to
impact a negative cause, it can be other social medias too. Using to much of Facebook and other
networks can mess them up in school, by doing less studying and keeping their mind on school.
Their grades can go down because of the lack of keeping up with their work. Also their job could
be at risk because their mind isnt all complete when their at work, their mind is just on what
they see online and what they talk about with their friends. All the network changes the way
people communicate with others because the way they speak online they also take it to work and
to school. The internet can cause people a lot of trouble.
The internet and technology has changed how people interact with others. So much that
people especially teens are use to be on social media and on their technologies they dont interact
well with others. Interacting with people is a big problem now because ever since internet was
involved and the technology they seem to not matter whats going on around them. Many others
have express shared concerns regarding the overuse of technology and its impact on face toface communication, Los Angeles restaurants have banned the use of mobile devices to ensure
customers enjoy both their meal and their company (Drago). The problem that occurs a lot now
is when families are out spending time a lot of the teens dont communicate much with the
family because there always on their devices and on social media. They never have a face-to face
communication with anybody cause there always focusing on whats on the other side of the

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screen. Here in Los Angeles there are many places dont allow people to have devices on for the
same reason, because of the lack of communication they have with others. Many dont take the
time and make conversations with out having their devices in their hand.
Its not so much that teens are on technology, its the adults as well they spend their time
on technology. Since the year of 2000 the usage of technology and social media have risen a lot
till this day. The result of study has shown that As of 2013, 90% of American adults had a cell
phone of some kind, and for the people under the age of 44, the number was closer to 97%
(Drago). With these statistics is the evidence what technology has done to adults, with the usage
of the internet and social media. One study, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found
people ages 8 to 18 spent more time on media than on any other activity at an average of 7.5
hours a day (Drago). The hours that teens spend on social media have taken all the time that
they can spend with their families. In general adults or teens have the lack of communication
with one another and dont do much face-to-face talking only screen-to face.
In conclusion, as we know the internet has a negative impact on people now in these
days. We know that people dont do much verbal talking back in the modern days, there was a lot
of verbal talking or even writing with a pen on a paper. In order to have better communication
people should cut off the usage of social media because that can be a problem to a relationship
between the loved ones, family, and friends. Its important to have face-to-face communication
because that shows that the person is paying full attention to the other person that is talking to
them. The less time people stop using social media would put a good effect to them, because the
change after internet was invented and social media was created has brought a negative path
towards them. Everyones life just depends on the social media and the internet and in reality it

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shouldnt be like that because we should be able to depend on the people that are around us, not
just a glass screen.
Works Cited
Drago, Emilio. "The Effect of Technology on Face-to-Face Communication." The Effect of
Technology on Face-to-Face Communication by Emily Drago 13 2.1 (2015): 1-2.
Student Pulse. 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
Grogan, Jessica, Ph.D. "Is Facebook Distorting Your View of the World?" Psychology Today.
N.p., 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
Guide, Dezire. "15 Most Popular Uses of Web." DezineGuide. N.p., 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 21 Feb.
2016.
"HISTORY OF COMMUNICATION." HISTORY OF COMMUNICATION. N.p., n.d. Web. 21
Feb. 2016.