The media are everywhere in our daily lives. We pick up a newspaper and read about the events in our hometown or across the globe. We can see and hear the latest breaking news on our living room television. We can even learn information from our friends. All of these types of media are connected in one way or another, originating back thousands or tens of thousands of years ago, depending on if you believe in either the New Earth or Old Earth theory. No matter what theory you accept as true, the origins of media are old forms that modernized into what we know today.
As said on businessdictionary.com, the media are “communication channels through which news, entertainment, education, data, or promotional messages are disseminated”. The beginnings of these communications depend on what theory you personally believe. The Old Earth theory says that the earth began 4.6 billion years ago, and follows the ideas of evolution, whereas New Earth theory believes that earth was formed 6,000 years ago when God made creation. Whatever you believe, word of mouth can be stated as the “most ancient and organic form of media”; Adam talking to Eve in the Garden of Eden or cavemen talking to other homo sapiens. This interaction through word of mouth is when the process of media began.
From word of mouth, other forms of the media and the ways to communicate erupted. Printed or written media came to the surface, such as hieroglyphs in Egypt or the many different types of the alphabet, such as Chinese or Greek alphabet. Each of the alphabets were formed and built off the one before it, where it eventually became our modern alphabet of twenty six letters. Other printed media includes the newspaper and the printing press. The printing press was invented by Johann Gutenberg and this new advancement can be credited not only for a revolution in the production of books, but also for the rapid development in the arts, sciences, and religion through the diffusion of texts. The printing press allowed for the spread of literacy, people’s ideas, research, and news to be spread about. When Gutenberg first brought out his printing press, it could print 240 pages per hour rather than the few pages if done by hand. Over time, with revolutions in technology and innovation, such as the Industrial Revolution and steam power, the printing press transformed and made it possible for thousands of pages to be printed. These improvements allowed for mass communication to escalate, thus making the printing press to be the "turning point in media". It created a way for tens of thousands of people to become connected and informed of what was happening in society. Today, there are thousands of printings available for us to read and each of the companies responsible for the print-outs can produce massive amounts of product at a fast rate every day.
The basis of media is to get the word out of what is happening. Besides word of mouth and the printing press, there were many other various forms to inform and communicate with people. To get this message out, different cultures and societies used different resources: pigeons, postal service, drum codes, or even fire. Of course, there are other numerous types of media. All of these earliest forms of media though, have transformed into modern applications. One example is homing pigeons. Homing pigeons debuted in 800 BC for the outcome of the Olympic Games. The pigeons would send results of the events to other cities. These birds could send messages as far as 1,000 miles to the destined receiver. Throughout time and advancements in technology, we as a society went from pigeons to Twitter. No more do we need to send a bird out for hours or days to send a message, but rather mere seconds to tell the world what is on our mind with a “tweet”. These improvements of speed and technology of today shows how messages have modernized The forms media are ancient, but throughout time, they have changed and evolved into modern application, with an increase of speed, quality, and innovation for the dispersing of communication. Whether we believe in New Earth or Old Earth, the media went through many numerous forms. Media allows us to communicate news, entertainment, stories, data, education, messages, and to get our ideas across to the masses. Without these ancient innovations, who knows how society would be today.
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