What is communication?

Communication is the mean to interact with the rest of the world. One of the inseparable and constant needs for human beings is to interact with the rest of the society. Therefore, communication serves as the bridge for humans to stay connected.

There are many ways of communication. It can be a long talk with a friend, or attending a presentation where usually only just one person talks and the other people listen. It can also be a reading from the newspaper or a program on the radio or TV. Nowadays, with the invention of Internet, more and more people are using Internet, where the instant connection of the rest of the world becomes possible.

The model of communications used to be just two ways: sender gives information to receiver who offers back feedback. Sometimes it was only one way, when the feedback became hard to submit. This model confined the amount of information and the number of people involved in communication. That was when mass communication came into practice. With the invention of paper and print, people started to vastly distribute opinions using communication. Because this process was costly in general and the technology was not available to all, mass communication started by a few people on the top of the society and it tended to stay that way. Even nowadays, mass communication is still controlled by a certain number of people (Hardt 7-20). Therefore, one of the functions of mass communication is its ability to make a few people’s opinions influential to a large group of people. Communication has always been part of the political tools in this case.

The model of communication changed when the technology provided the base to make mass communication move to the next level. That was when Internet was invented. Since that time, the whole world was connected. The second model of communication is like a circle where receivers are the dominant parts. This time the receivers in the old model are also senders as well thanks to the platform offered by the cyber technology like the Internet where one can receive as well as submitting his or her opinions easily. For example, when a person opens the browser, the whole world is connected. Instead of sharing ideas with one person or one group, one can share anything with anyone in the world.

This is the communication in the 21^st century. It is the cyber communication, where everyone is connected by our cyber technology. With the technology inventions in communication, the whole world is getting smaller.

Work Cited:

Hardt, Hanno. Myths for the Masses: An Essay on Mass Communication. 1^st ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2004. 7-20. Print.