Communication how we know it nowadays is easy and simple. You can talk to others by using the same language, write what you want to say on a piece of paper or type it into your smartphone.
For us newer generations, this is all we’ve known. We never had an issue with not having the resources to talk to others and it just seems normal how it is. But it wasn’t always like that. Back in the early days, people had to be creative as to finding different ways to communicate with other people. Some of these old ideas are still present in our day-to-day life, such as body language. People’s body language can say a lot about how the person is feeling, whether they’re angry, upset, motivated, …
But when exactly did people start to communicate how we know it nowadays and what did the people do before the more modern forms of communication?
There are a lot of different milestones when it comes to the development of communication technologies but we will only have a look at some of the biggest or more important ones in this article.
Cave Paintings (around 64.000 years ago)
The oldest known form of communication were cave paintings. People mostly used these cave paintings to tell the story of their culture, including stories about battles and hunts. This led to the believe that the primary purpose of cave paintings was to instruct others on what animals are safe to eat.
Drum and Smoke Signals (around 5.500BC)
To send signals to neighbouring groups, tribes used drums made from natural objects (f.e. alligator skin) to communicate. If the other groups were further away, smoke signals were used as well (as you have all probably seen in Western movies with Cowboys and Indians).
Writing (around 3.300BC)
The earliest form of writing is believed to come from Mesopotamian origin. The pictorial signs were then slowly substituted by a complex system of characters representing the sounds of the language in Southern Mesopotamia, as well as other languages. Though, full writing-systems seem to have been independently developed at least four times in human history.
Carrier Pigeons (around 200BC)
Since the above mentioned forms of communication only worked when the other groups weren’t that far away, the earliest example of long distance communication are carrier pigeons. The Romans count to the early adopters of this communication form to keep their military informed.
Printing Press (around 1440)
Since more people were gradually learning to read and handwritten books and documents were present for over 1.000 years before this history changing invention, it was time to look for a way on how to print books multiple times. That’s when Johannes Gutenberg becomes important. He is credited with being the inventor of the printing press, which made it able to provide the masses with literary books and not just a selected few.
Telegraph (1830s-1840s)
Until the telegraph made its first appearance, letters were the fastest way to send messages over long distances. The new invention then allowed for instant communication over long distances for the first time in human history, which laid the foundation for quick communication.
Telephone (1876)
Calling someone on the phone seems normal for us and makes communication a lot simpler. The person we can thank for that is Alexander Graham Bell, known as the inventor of the telephone. He made two way communication possible, even over far distances.
First text message (1992)
Since people were already able to call someone, they now luckily also had the chance to send others text messages over their phone.
World Wide Web (1993)
1993 was the year in which a big milestone in Internet technologies was set. The WWW was made available for the public, resulting in people being able to access information online without having to pay a fee or ask for permission.
First smartphone (1994)
The first smartphone was launched by the tech company IBM but of course since then, a lot has changed in the size and in the abilities of a smartphone.
As you can see, communication hasn’t always been how it is nowadays. We came a long way from cave paintings and smoke signals to the most modern forms of technological communication devices, including all the apps and browsers to call and chat with people. Since it only took around 200 years to go from the first ever communication device to send messages over a great distance to the new iPhone 14, it will be very interesting to see what the future holds for our ways of communicating.
Sources:
https://www.myevideo.com/how-did-human-communication-start/ (Mia Styles, November 1st, 2022)
https://www.creativedisplaysnow.com/articles/history-of-communication-from-cave-drawings-to-the-web/ (Creative Displays Now, November 1st, 2022)
https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/oldest-forms-human-communication (Emilia Potenza, November 1st, 2022)
https://www.bl.uk/history-of-writing/articles/where-did-writing-begin (Ewan Clayton, November 1st, 2022)
https://www.pioneercomms.co.uk/history-of-communication/#1919-1925 (Pioneer Business Systems, November 1st, 2022)
https://www.elon.edu/u/imagining/time-capsule/150-years/back-1830-1860/ (Elon University, November 1st, 2022)
https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/ahoy-alexander-graham-bell-and-first-telephone-call (Science Museum, November 1st, 2022)
https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/ (World Wide Web Foundation, November 1st, 2022)