Several inventions have changed the way people communicate with each other. From the old
fashioned telegraph to today's modern electronic forms of communicating, people have
beencreating easier ways to correspond. Electronic communicati?on, such as e-mail and
other
internet offerings, have created a cheap and incredibly fast communications system which
is
gaining steady popularity.
E-mail is basically information, usually in letter form,addressed to a destination on the
interne?t.
The internet is aninternational web of interconnected networks--in essence, ? anetwork
of
networks; these consist of government, education, and business networks. Software on
these
networks between the source and destination networks "read" the addre?sses on packets
and
forward them toward their destinations. E-mail is a very fas?t and efficient way of
sending
information to any internet location. Once an e-mail is sent, it arrives at its
destinatio?n almost
instantly. This provides people with a way to communicate with people anywhere in the
world
quickly without the costs of other forms of communicating such as telephone cal?ls or
postage for
letters. The savings to be gained from e-mail were enough of an inducement for many
businesses to invest heavily in equipment and network connections in the early 1990s.
The
employees of a large corporation may send hundreds of thousands of pieces of E-mail over
the
Internet every month, thereby cutting back on postal and telepho?ne costs. It is not
uncommon to
find internet providers from twenty to thirty dollars a month for unlimited access to
internet??
features. Many online services such as America Online and Prodigy offer e-mail software
and
internet connections which work i?n an almost identical way, however, the cost is more
expensive.?
The World Wide Web (WWW) and USENET Newsgroups are amongother internet offerings
which have changed the way people communicate with each other. The WWW can be
compared to a electronic bulletin board where information consisting o? fanything can be
posted.
One can create visual pages consisting of text and graphics which become viewable to
anyone
with WWW access. Anything from advertisements to providing people wit?h infor?mation
and
services can be found on the WWW. File transfers between networks can also be
accomplished
on the WWW though Gopher ?and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) sites. Newsgroups are very
similar, but run in a different way. Newsgroups basically create a? forum where people
can
discuss a vast array of subjects. There are thousands of newsgroups available. Once one
finds
a subjec?t that interests them, they may post notes which are visible to anyone visiting
that
particular newsgroup, and others may respon?d to such notes. Again, this can be
advertising,
information, or, more commonly, gossip.
Though the internet can be a convenient way of communication, it can become problematic.
Networks can shut down resulting in lost e-mail and WWW sites and newsgroups to be down
for
an amount of time. Another problem is the addicting factorassociate?d with most online
services.
One can become attached toan online service as they are thrilled they can meet people al?
lover
the world. Much spare time can be used e-mailing and surfing the net creating a lack of
real
human interaction for such an indiv?idual. Though this may not be a big concern for most
people,
it is considered more healthy to be active rather than sitting in ?front of a computer
for hours a
day. Also, the need for variety can cause one to subscribe to many? providers with
varying cost?s,
creating large monthly bills.
Though the lack of human interaction may seem like aproblem, technology is continuing?
to
create new ways to morefully interact with people on the internet. New inventions suchas
the I??-
Phone and miniature video cameras are further changingthe way we communicate with each
other. Now, with the I-Phone,one can actually talk with people o?ver the internet with
thetelephone without normal long distance calling charges. Also,with the new video
cameras
which can be connected to the computer, people can actually see who they are talking
to,regardless of location. No longer are people confi?ning themselves to a room typing
information to one another; they're interacting with more progression.
Electronic communication is proving to be the way of the future. The affordable and
sufficient
system of exchanginginformation is still gaini?ng popularity and people, as well
asbusinesses,
utilizing its many services.
|