Telephones: Ushering In A Revolution For Decades

Ask any individual who witnessed the telephone revolution in the twentieth century, and one can learn about the massive hurdles one had to face if a call was to be made. The expenses were huge, and the difficulties were too immense for the common people to reap the declared benefits. The experts of that era were quick to point out that the telephone had little to offer for the world, and the conventional means of communication were doing just fine to be phased out. However, once the industrial scale of productions took over and the telephone penetrated almost every levels of the society, all other modes of sending messages became virtually extinct.

How Technology Made Other Modes Non-existent:

The experts of the era, who probably found it hard to believe that the telephone being so expensive and arduous to operate might possibly, replace the tried and tested, and relatively cheaper telegram someday. What they didn’t factor in the equation is the large scale industrial production of the systems, the faster route of message transmission, and better privacy of conversations would make the telephone more acceptable to civilians. Moreover, by driving up the scale of productions, the cost of owning and operating telephones were competitive to that of sending messages via telegram, and in cases, even more efficient.

The Vision of the Future:

The people who dared to think of the future as radically different from that of the present were crucified for their inability to blend in with the common people. Moreover, the inventions, along with their inventors were routinely subjected to abuses to prevent the then dominant businesses to retain their position, as well as allow any future competitors to wither away right after birth. However, the massive benefits outweighed the social drags, and allowed the technologies to flourish and gradually evolve to the smart, portable devices as we know them today.

Communication is Key:

As the world became more intertwined, the necessity for efficient modes of communication arose. These have led to better satellite and optical fiber based communication channels, which were unthinkable just a few decades ago. In fact, anybody who said that messages can be sent at the speed of light would probably be sued in a criminal court for offending the social honchos, and men of position. However, ask any person today how a simple free background check can be performed within a few minutes, and the obvious choice would be by the telephone.

Every aspect of our lives, from academics to R&D, and from humanitarian and disaster relief efforts to military operations, real time flow of information is crucial for tasks to be efficiently completed. Without sending information at the speed of light, countless human lives would be at stake, thereby incurring heave financial losses.

Based on the insights of the technological boom, one can assume that the coming decades might bring something more revolutionary to our tables, one which can make our lives more efficient and simpler as compared of now, and must be made available to the society for reaping their stated benefits as the telephone have ushered us with.