by Matt Bird

Created on: June 12, 2009

There was once a time when, to talk to a person, you had to leave your house, hunt them down and verbally relay whatever message you had. There were no letters to be sent, no cell phones to call them up with or instant messages available for quick access; you went and found them, or at least hoped to find them.

Times have changed. Communication is easier than ever before. More, even the easier methods of communicating have advanced by leaps and bounds in the last ten years or so, making things even easier. Here's a quick look at some technologies have improved immeasurably over time to the point that the tricky part isn't being found by people, it's getting away from them.

- The telephone. The original long-distance communication device of the modern era, the telephone has gone from a fixture on the wall of the kitchen to a little device you carry around in your pocket. There are still home phones, sure, but even they look different - I have trouble remembering the last time I saw a phone with a traditional dial that still worked, not to mention a cord leading into the wall. (Not on the thing you pick up, anyway. The base, maybe.) More, phones do more than just make calls: you can send text messages, e-mails, even play games on the things. Diverse.

- The letter. Though there's still a fair amount of snail mail out there, most of it's getting phased out in favor of quick and easy e-mail. Sorry, Mr. Post Man, but your job has been largely stolen by the digital age: what was once a days-long trip has been reduced to a few seconds, give or take the size of the e-mail and the state of the service. On the plus side, I don't think delivery of packages is going anywhere any time soon (though if we get teleporters then the package service is really out of luck).

- Personal messages. When the Internet first blossomed into being you had to talk to one another on bulletin boards. Now? There are extended forums, chats and instant messaging systems available. You can talk to anybody you want in seconds, even if they're on the other side of the world, for free. Doesn't get much better than that. (Phones can do this too, of course, though it's not quite as free. The parents of teenagers have learned that many times over.)

- Faxes. You used to have to buy a separate fax machine for anything, and half the time it didn't work anyway. Now there are printers which are much more efficient, and do a lot more than just print and fax anyway - scan, copy, make tea, the sky's the limit.

- Meeting in person. Don't need that anymore, either, thanks to web cameras built right into the computer. You can transmit an image of yourself in real time to anywhere in the world.

And as long as we feel the need to communicate with one another, which is pretty much a given, person-to-person interactions will continue to improve. Soon enough we'll eliminate the need to ever talk to one another person and, like the humans in WALL-E, we'll all fly around on chairs and talk exclusively to screens.

Exciting future, everyone!

Learn more about this author, Matt Bird.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.