The Evolution of Conversation

They say that, as a society, technology has made us more distant from each other than ever.

However, I’m inclined to disagree. Back in the “good ol’ days” a single conversation could have taken months from beginning to end, sending letters back and forth; whereas now a conversation can be had within a few minuets. Technology is definitely making it possible to stay in touch better (and easier) than ever before.

The earliest ways to get a message from A to B were smoke signals and message drums. Both methods could be used to communicate over vast distances, passing information from one party to the next. The first, smoke signals, were most famously used by the Native Americans. After a fire had been built, a blanket would be held above it then removed, sending up puffs of smoke. After a lot of practice, the size and shape of the puff could be controlled, therefore changing the message.

Talking drums operated on the same basic principle, using sound waves instead of smoke to cover the distance. These were used mostly in West Africa by such cultures as the Hausa people and the Benin, who developed extremely complex “languages” using the drum beats. Messages could even be sent to specific people with senders identified by their “drum name,” very similarly to how someone using a CB radio has a “handle” (or a name) used to identify themselves over the radio.

Then came the greatest invention of them all, the written word! Messages could now be written down and sent directly to the intended recipient. It only made sense to use horses to get messages where they needed to go.

Nearly everyone has heard of the Pony Express. It’s almost as much a part of the Wild West as the cowboy. Started on April 3, 1860 by William H. Russell, William B. Waddell, and Alexander Majors, the Pony Express covered nearly 2,000 miles from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California and could get a message through in a little over a week. It was an amazing achievement for its time.

The Pony Express depended on a relay system of riders and horses, passing mail off and switching mounts. Unfortunately, their amazing system would turn out to be short-lived. On October 24, 1861 the Pacific Telegraph line was finished and the Pony Express was rendered obsolete. While it wasn’t the only or even the first to use messengers on horseback, it was definitely the most well documented and most famous.

The next milestones for communication were obviously the telegraph and telephone, respectively. The electric telegraph was originally invented in England circa 1836 by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone. It used several needles to point to letters on a dial to spell out the message being sent. However, Samuel Morse took it one step further, inventing the Morse Code – a series of dots and dashes that signified letters.

As clever as the telegraph was, the telephone - invented on March 10, 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell – soon replaced it and is still a staple for communication today. Since then, we’ve upgraded to cell phones and my personal favorite, e-mail. In 1971 Ray Tomlinson sent the first e-mail, ushering in the modern age of communication.

Like I said, we’ve come a long way since the early days of drums and smoke. No longer are we at the mercy of distance or fair weather to talk to our family and friends. We’re only a click or call away. Who knows what the next breakthrough will be?