Blog Post #4 - Technology

The telephone is an outstanding invention that has impacted our society in many different ways; without it we would be lost. The evolution of the telephone has come a long way since the idea of one was created by Antonio Meucci in 1849. Elisha Gray is also tied up in the controversy as to who was truly the first to invent the telephone. Gray had invented a number of telephone devices.  Both were actually one of the first people to develop the design of a talking telegraph or telephone but then some issues arised which is now why Alexander Graham Bell is widely known and credited for being the inventor of the telephone. This is because Bell was awarded the first successful patent for the telephone. Bell came to the United States as a teacher for deaf people which then sparked the idea of “electronic speech” while visiting his mother who also had impaired hearing. This then initiated the idea of inventing a microphone and then later the first telephone or as he referred to it the “electrical speech machine”. The entire motive behind inventing the telephone was to essentially improve communication through groundbreaking work in sound technology as well as improving education for the deaf. The invention of the telephone has forever changed the way people communicate with each other. 

The telephone dramatically impacted society for the better, in my opinion. This was a significant push in the right direction for the implementation and spark of technology and communication between people. This definitely made contact between people faster and easier. The amount of time it took to send messages was cut down somewhat dramatically. As time went on telephones evolved from landlines and switchboards to cell phones and cell towers. This has ultimately shaped the way how almost every single person communicates with each other in current society. I would say back then that the invention and evolution of the telephone was extremely positive. But it can also be argued that now in the present day that there could be some negative effects because in recent times telephones are not just used for phone calls and sending messages. Social media can now be accessed on these devices and these different applications can have a negative effect on someone due to harsh comments and the spread of cancel culture but it also goes to show how the invention of one device can be tied to the invention of another device. Many can be intertwined and now in current times a majority of these inventions are all in one device or can be accessed through a single device like the cell phone. Overall without the invention of the telephone I don’t think we would be as advanced as we are today. This invention sparked the change in the positive direction for growth and improvement. It is also truly amazing to see how far we have come from looking at the image of the  first telephone to seeing all the new phones that we have today.

https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/who-is-credited-with-inventing-the-telephone/ 

https://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/addlbios/bellag.html