>communications

This past century has been one of tremendous growth and change. Some people have said the society of this world is getting smaller and more uniform; others, that it is becoming more divisive. It is both, and this is due to the advancements in the field of communications. The first major development of the century, radio, allowed people to instantaneously communicate without a physical link. It also brought in the age of broadcasting, and helped create a mass culture, one in which many people could share the same experiences. The second development, television, would have even more impact on society. Life in the west became centered on the TV set, in an age when vast groups of people could share in a single event, in which actors and commercials set into motion "fads" and "rages". The last, the internet, took this world is starting to tear at it. Instead of being given three choices for news, we now have millions, instead of thousands of people watching the same show, there are one or two people browsing through pages at a time. Slowly, the internet is impacting people's lives in it's own way. To understand the changes in society that have occured during the last 100 years, you need to study one thing : communications.