The document outlines the evolution of communication from the telegraph to modern social media, highlighting significant milestones like the introduction of the telephone and the rise of texting. It emphasizes a shift from spoken communication to written forms, noting that while technology has advanced rapidly, it raises questions about the decline of face-to-face interactions. Ultimately, it reflects on the implications of this communication revolution for both personal relationships and historical documentation.

1. Telegraph to Twitter
A Communication Revolution

2. In the Beginning…
Julius Caesar commanded his troops through multiple
battles. He went into battle with them and in order to
reach other commanding officers of Rome, he sent a
courier on horseback with a written order bearing his
seal.

3. General Washington at Valley Forge
Ability for Generals to command an army remained the same
through the American Revolution and beyond. Generals were
present on the battlefield and communicated by courier with
their other generals and people back home.

4. But things were about to change…
“What Has God Wrought?” those words were
the beginning of a communication revolution.
They were send on May 24, 1844 by Samuel
Morse via Morse Code on the telegraph.

5. Telegraph
Thanks to the telegraph, President Abraham Lincoln becomes
the first commanding general in the history of the world to
communicate remotely in real time to his Generals and Officers
during the Civil War. He often slept in the telegraph office.

6. Lincoln Communicates from Washington
General Grant received this telegram from
President Lincoln in 1864. Communication had
taken a huge leap forward and would never be
the same again.

7. A Leap in Messaging
For the first time, words could be sent in seconds without
sending them via courier. People could communicate back and
forth in real time. However, in order to speak to someone you
still had to be face to face but things were about to change…
Alexander Graham Bell and his first Telephone circa 1876

8. “Mr. Watson come here I want you”
With these words spoken by Alexander Graham Bell on
March 10, 1876 another explosion in communication
took place. Now you could speak to someone without
being in the same room. This is a mere 32 years after
Morse sent his initial message.

9. The Telephone
As much as the telegraph was a communication miracle
allowing us to communicate over vast distances in
seconds, the telephone enabled us to “talk” over
distances. For the next 100 years, the telephone is the
dominant form of communication.

10. Advancement Comes Quickly
The telephone continues to advance with this early dial
phone shown from 1919. The speed of change is
extraordinary compared to the thousands of years
without change in the way we communicated over
distances.

11. And it grows…
Telephone wire is strung across vast areas to
further increase the use and availability of this
new fascinating mode of communication.

12. Connecting by Hand
In some areas telephone calls were connected
by hand until after World War II.

13. Progress Moves Rapidly
Once the communication revolution began it could not
be stopped. In 1915 the first transcontinental call is
made and in 1926 the first transatlantic call.

14. The Telephone is Everywhere
As television becomes a part of our lives, the telephone
is an integral part of stories. Everyone home has one or
more, changes in style continue and we are talking and
talking and talking to each other…

15. Styles change and color emerges
I grew up with a rotary phone, something
people under 30 would be unaware of. The wall
phone was in the kitchen. I was given a pink
Princess phone on my 16th birthday.

16. Even the Flintstone's had phones
Our imagination and obsession assured us that
Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty must have
communicated by phone.

17. Not Everyone Had One
Part of the Honeymooners charm was the “minimalist”
living style of Ralph and Alice. They did not have a
phone. Ralph simply opened the kitchen window and
yelled up for Norton. Rather old-fashioned but we
loved it.

18. Used in Crimes…
From Hitchcock to the Simpsons the phone
continues to be a part of our lives. Here in Dial
M for Murder and Homer contemplating
strangling Bart with the phone cord.

19. Where would Clark have changed?
Where would Clark Kent have changed into
Superman if he didn’t have phone booths on
every corner? Maybe a Starbucks restroom?

20. And then came the cordless..
We then moved to the cordless phone. You
could walk around and talk so long as you
remembered to charge it.

21. We were thinking ahead…
Always looking to the future we portrayed our
futuristic ideas for communicating in our
popular culture.

22. Cell Phone is Born
Use of the personal mobile phone dates back to the early
1990’s, although the technology started being tested in Chicago
in 1978. Now we had hand held devices that we could take
anywhere, providing we had service. They were large but it
meant we could talk anytime and anywhere. That meant we
could be reached anytime and anywhere. Another revolution in
communication was just around the corner. This next revolution
would come full circle as we begin to write our communications
instead of speaking them.

23. Smaller and Smaller
Cell phone technology continues to advance and with it
smaller and smaller cell phones that do more and
more.

24. Email & Instant Messaging
The personal computer brings with it the ability to email
and instant message. It is no longer necessary to pick up
the telephone to communicate in a matter of minutes or
seconds. Our progression away from speaking to each
other has begun.

25. The Telegraph Grows Up; Texting is
Born
Email and instant messaging allowed us to
communicate from our computers. Texting allows us to
reach out anytime, anywhere with a real time message
that is delivered via a cell phone. We move further and
further away from “talking” as the phone call seems to
become the last mode of communication.

26. What about face to face?
It seems even when we are together, we often
prefer to write our thoughts than to speak them.

27. Social Media
The written word seems to have made a resurgence in
social media. MySpace, Facebook Posts, Blogs, Online
Chats all have us writing our thoughts instead of
speaking them. Email is becoming passé and more and
more we turn away from communicating by voice.

28. 140 Characters
Social media allows us to connect without borders and
communicate our personal and professional lives
instantaneously. The emergence of Twitter added another
dimension, the ability to communicate in real time in 140
characters or less. Like the telegraph we are now sending very
succinct messages over vast distances in real time.

29. Written History
It is generally believed that the earliest writing was done in Mesopotamia around 3200 B.C.E. That
would mean that for over 5000 years man used the written word to communicate over distances, record
history and transact business. While the printing press, typewriter and computer added vast advances
to spreading the written word and literacy, they did not dramatically transform our personal
communications. The advent of the telegraph changed the way we could personally communicate over
large distances and in seconds. In the blink of an eye technology has taken us from the telegraph to
telephone to the cell phone to social media. I believe that along with this extraordinary transformation
we have evolved from a culture highly devoted to the spoken word thanks to the telephone to a revival
of the written word. This revival has become so obsessive that in many cases we are texting and
tweeting to people who are sitting at the same table with us. We even sit with each other and text and
tweet others instead of giving our attention to the person whom we are with. Twitter forces us to
communicate in 140 characters much the same way those communicating by telegram wanted to keep
messages short and to the point.
The return of the written word may have significant implications for history as each
blog, post, text, tweet, email, etc. is a living record of ordinary people going about their lives. That is
something that has often been sorely lacking in historical data.
While that is great for future historians, it begs the question of “what happened to spoken
conversation?”. The written word is not always the best form of communication especially when
dealing with sensitive issues and conflict.
The subtleties of expression and body language are no more clear with a Tweet than with a telegram.
How will we integrate our love of communicating instantly on little hand held devices with our need to
verbally express ourselves and socialize face to face? I suspect technology will provide the answer in
the blink of an eye.