How Technology is Changing Human Interaction

The television has come a long way over the past eighty-four years. The inventor of the television has been a feud over Farnsworth and Zworykin. The men both were experimenting with the development of television since 1923. They both put in an application to patent the iconoscope, the forerunner of the picture tube. The first television broadcast made available was in London in 1936. In the year 1945, there were fewer than seven thousand working television sets in the country and only nine stations on the air; three in New York, two each in Chicago and Los Angeles, and one each in Philadelphia and Schenectady, New York.

The television communicates with people from all over the world. The television gives us advertisements that help the media industry promote products that are made available to the public. The television allows people to get the news on what is going on in the world. It provides us with local news and world wide news. Before the television many people were informed by radio or letters. Television makes the news spread faster and easier. People use the television for everyday communications. They communicate by listing school closing and even local events in the area. You are able to keep up on terrorist outrages to soap operas, from obesity to politics.


Technology via television is changing human interaction from what we knew in the past. As the world becomes more advanced with technology, the more time we have to spend doing something else. There are many stations on television that keep us from interacting face to face with people, such as; cooking channels, shopping network, and exercise shows. Exercise shows on television, allow the viewer to get the same work out that they would in a gym or with a personal trainer. Although the work out instructor was not face to face, communication to the consumer was still present. Technology is affecting face to face interaction with people all over the world. There are television stations that make it possible to shop from home. They show you the product on television, you call in the order and it is at your door in just a few days. Television shows even prevents children from going outside to play. Instead of interacting with children in the neighborhood, their eyes are focused on a specific television show. During elections, voters are able to watch debates from home. They are able to select the candidate they prefer, without even shaking their hand. Voters get to know the candidates well and what improvements they promise to make if elected.


The many designs and uses of the telephone, whether stationary or mobile, has also influenced the way humans interact. The technological aspect of phones today has stretched farther than anyone in the past could imagine. The beginning of the phone itself came out in December 28, 1871. At the time telegraphs were very popular. Thomas Edison started to work on improving the telegraph until he came up with other ideas for communications. There are still questions on who first came out with the idea of the electric telephone itself. Alexander Bell, Thomas Edison, and Elisha Gray had different patents for the telephone and the improvements or upgrades for the earliest phones used. Thomas Edison was credited for paving the way to Bell's success. The early phones had seven wires, one for the knife switch, one for each telegraph key, one for the bell, one for the push button, and two for speaking. The phones had three separate pieces beginning in the 1890's. The transmitter was on a candlestick like stand and the bell, induction coil, battery and magneto, were in a separate bell box. After the 1930's, the phone was changing. Instead of three separate pieces, the phone was being transformed to two units: one for the components and the other for the receiver. The phone transmissions were powered by batteries located at central offices. Local batteries were used at first, but the costs were rising on having them constantly serviced. Some phones that were not battery operated had a hand crank that would send a high voltage signal to ring the bells on the line of the other telephones. In the beginning of the 20th century, Bell came out with a new physical style of phone, the Bell Model 102. This phone was the most popular and the longest lasting style of phone used.

Telephone transmissions were modified in the early 1960's. The phone carriers went to a t1 carrier system. At this time phones had touch tone which replaced the dial. Analog systems still existed, but digital technology was starting and was going to be well on its way. SONET and fiber optic transmissions, which began around 1980, were making digital technology possible and was improving the way people communicated. Many new phone companies and new ideas were developing as well.


Along with the changing technology, came new telephone companies that offer cell phones. Today's payphones are becoming extinct because of the high demand and usage of cell phones. Most cellphones connect to a network of cell sites. The base stations for mobile phones were invented in 1947 by engineers at AT&T. They were constantly upgraded well into the 1960's. Motorola is believed to be the inventor of the first cell phone that didn't require the phone to be stationed in an automobile. The first call was made on April 3, 1973, by Motorola's manager, Martin Cooper. Automatic cellular networks came about in the early to mid 1980's. This started the boom in cellular usage that we know today. Over the years the components of the cell phone were made smaller so that the phones were more handy than the bulky phones of the past. Today the society is living among the third generation of the cell phones, and with video and other data services, human communications is on the brink of the fourth generation of cell phones to come. Today cell phone usage is more popular than the home phone. The Nokia Corporation is the world's largest manufacturer of the cell phones. Today, the cell phone is the key component to human interaction with the numerous capabilities the phone has. People can communicate globally by internet, texting, calling, and walkie-talkie.

The advancement of video games has had a definite impact on how we as humans interact with each other. With gaming systems being able to log onto the internet for multi-play operation it would not be uncommon for two people from different states or country’s for that matter to be playing against each other. And now with the Nintendo Wii that is adding a whole new aspect to the gaming world by incorporating physical interaction into the mix. The need to leave home and meet people or participate in sports has become a thing of the past. Instead of having a conversation with a stranger you can save the planet from aliens or win the World Series from the comfort of your own home. The invention of car navigation and road side assistance like Onstar has also affected the way we communicate with each other. in the old days if you were lost or were going somewhere that was unfamiliar you would ask for directions from someone now all you have to do is type your destination in to the keypad and the on board navigation system tells you where you are going.

The Internet gained a public face in the 1990's. On August 6, 1991 CERN publicised the new World Wide Web project. Two years after British scientist, Tim Berners-Lee had began creating HTML, HTTP and the first few web pages at CERN.

The Internet is one of the largest used networks to communicate with other people all over the world. Over the last ten years the internet has come a long way. It helps people connect with others in different parts of the world. Internet users have many options on how they would like to connect with others. The internet gives us the opportunity to e-mail. Once an e-mail is sent it is immediately available in the recipient’s mailbox. Anyone with internet access can also communicate by chatting. Chatting allows you to contact others on there computer screen and are able to type back to you in the matter of seconds. The internet also allows us to use certain web sites, which make it possible to text message from your computer to the person’s cell phone.

E-mail has revolutionized the way we work and play. Communication between people through the Internet has made our day to day communication a thing of the past. Most business transactions are complete without even seeing a face or hearing a voice. Companies now are forcing employees to actually go and talk with other co-workers instead of e-mailing them. The fear is that humans are forgetting how to interact with each other and that asking them to put down technology for a day and go back before the days of e-mail. Not just e-mail but text messaging has also changed the way we communicate. Why call someone when you can just type a shortened message of what you want to say in your phone. Instead of having a conversation with one person you can have two or three conversations going on at the same time. In today’s world you can build a car, order a pizza, and schedule a surgery all without talking to one person. Technology has had a definite impact on our culture and if it continues our society will eventually not talk face to face at all and all communication will be done electronically.