North America is the site of a tragedy in so many ways we'll never actually comprehend because so much has been irretrievably lost

Highlights: Evolution of Mass Communication

ORAL TRADITIONS

Oral traditions of communication played a significant role in forming society and its institutions. It is the foundation and is the first of our timeline in the evolution of mass communication. The oral traditions, which highly relied on language being spoken orally, have become a bearer of culture and have been passed on to generation from another by being spoken. Examples of it include storytelling, epics, and chants. Culture disseminated through oral traditions has become highly valued in the present since these are hard to preserve and are slowly dying in present society. With the emergence of new media, some cultures disregard and fail to pass on their culture, This case is usually present in Indigenous groups, where children who belong in the recent generation are unwilling to learn and pass their culture and literature.  

EARLY FORMS OF WRITING

From the oral traditions to the early form of writings, the danger of not being able to preserve information and culture has been erased. From information and culture being passed on orally, it has been involved in being written in form. Examples of these are cuneiform, scrolls, and ancient symbols. Early forms of writing and new media both still preserve information, but the only difference is the level of accessibility to information that these two forms have. Written forms are more expensive to create and harder to disseminate. Moreover, scrolls and ancient symbols are used to better reach out to the public. These have made preservation of culture very beneficial for today’s society because it has stored knowledge on how life was in the ancient times. The knowledge of the past has become a tool in guiding the facts of the present and the outcomes of the future. On the other hand, the new forms of media are very accessible to the masses and have made content production very easy. From the content creation only being available to those who hold power and gold in early forms of writing, new media has allowed content creation available to the masses and the power is focused into the collective action of the minority.

PRINT MEDIA | Paper to Mass Publication (newspapers, magazines, books, posters, etc.)

Paper can hold a substantial amount of information that aims to reach a vast number of potential audiences. Thus, it is found to be an essential medium for communication. Subsequently, because of its relevance, paper was utilized in the production of mass publication. 

Inherently, paper is intended to serve the masses, primarily as a larger means of communication. This was found to be correlated with the purpose and intentions of mass publication. Hence, this potential was refined, which has evolved from being typically for publications to other uses such as for advertisements, flyers and significantly more.

Paper is a versatile material that possesses a lot of uses that are significant in our everyday lives. Therefore, the society took advantage of these features and utilized paper in many ways which produced newspapers, magazines, posters, etc. Consequently, paper became a crucial and fundamental media not just only for information dissemination and entertainment, but as well it created a platform for individuals to progress in the field of literature.

BROADCAST MEDIA | Radio to Television

Radio allows news and music to be broadcast to many people simultaneously. However, despite radio being considered an essential media before, inventors aimed to send sound and pictures over the air. Thus, the invention of television was patented to turn sounds into visuals. It was not long before the inventors figured out how to broadcast pictures with the audio. As a result, radio was dethroned by television since it greatly conveyed widespread information (with visuals and audio combined) that the radio cannot offer.  

Radio, even up to this time still provides a great source of information primarily in far flung areas. However, compared to radio, there is an ample amount of work a television can offer. Televisions provide a more reliable source of information since, unlike with radios, television enables you to see visuals and images. Nonetheless, radio broadcasting only transmits audio, while television broadcasting transmits both audio and video, which is more convenient.

Television was found to be the major agent of social change in the 20th century that opened windows to the people and places that brought distant events directly into millions of homes. Moreover, it influenced the way people think about such important social issues that are prevalent in the society. It played a predominant role in the political process, mainly in shaping national election campaigns. Besides, television also provided entertainment. Nevertheless, television is a vital tool for us to inform and be informed about the trends in our society, may it be in politics, economy, lifestyle, and the likes. 

DIGITAL MEDIA AND THE INTERNET | World Wide Web and Social Media Platforms

Digital media and the internet play an integral role in connecting people across the globe-- separated with different time zones and geographical distances. Began as a platform in personal computers, the emerging media was integrated in mobile devices which can now perform numerous tasks. As time progresses, this was even developed and are now present in nanotechnologies who incredibly play various functions stored in a tiny device. 

The dissolving of boundaries and borders allowed cultural imperialism wherein there is a silent domination by large influential institutions of developed nations to the perceptions and practices of individuals located in the other side of the world. Nevertheless, it is believed now that this phenomenon is a facet of expansion as these countries widen their influence, power and control.