Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

12.1 Technology and Communication
Learning
Outcomes
communication.
Since the Internet’s creation in 1969, public access to the Internet and the creation of the World Wide
Web (WWW) in 1991, and the proliferation of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) through the late
1990s, the technology that shapes your life today and will shape your life tomorrow is still relatively new.
Here are some relatively recent landmarks in social media sites, technology, and apps: LinkedIn (2003),
iTunes (2003), Facebook (2004), YouTube (2005), Twitter (2006), iPhone (2007), Drop Box (2008),
Google Docs (2009), Kickstarter (2010), Google+ (2011), Google Glass (2012), Oculus Rift (2013), and
iWatch (2014). As you can imagine, just limiting this list is hard. Some of these products you’re probably
very familiar with while others may be altogether new to you.
Before we get started, it’s essential to understand
the evolution of what we call computer-mediated
communication or CMC. Although in recent years
some scholars have adopted the broader term
“communication and technology,” we don’t think
this is necessary, because a computer of some kind
is always at the center of these communicative
interactions.
Figure 12.1a Abbacus
“A Chinese Abacus.” by . This
Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
So, our first question should be, what is a
computer. In its earliest use, “computers” referred
to people who performed massive numbers
of calculations by hand or using a tool like an
abacus (Figure 12.1a) or slide rule (Figure 12.1b).
As you can imagine, this process wasn’t exactly
efficient and took a lot of human resources. The
2016 movie Hidden Figures relates the true story
407
Figure 12.1c Slide Rule
by
is licensed under the Attribution 2.0
Unported license.
Interpersonal Communication