Life before new technology - Essay Example

In addition, the calls were not of the best quality meaning that by using landlines, phone calls had a higher chance of being dropped as compared to today’s cell phones. This is because; the switching process between calls was a manual process, before the automation of the system. In addition, there was a higher likelihood of landline telephony infrastructure getting vandalized, making calling a nightmare. This is as opposed to today’s telephony services, where calls are reliable and can be made without worries of dropping or getting disconnected.

In addition, the calling rates were sky high considering the number of telephone service providers. Call providers were few and limited to certain geographic regions meaning that one only had limited choice in getting provider and, as a result, was at their mercy. With the emergence of the cell phone, calls are cheaper as compared to before their presence, with more service providers, and thus more choice due to competition bringing calling right to a cheap bargain (Goyal, 2002). This is, in addition to text messaging that, eases communication substantially without calling or consuming much time.

Before the mobile phone people had to be confined in a given area to make, or even, receive a call. This made it highly inconvenient for both or all parties involved as one could not make or receive calls at their own time and at any place they wished, which made it very difficult to communicate because communication was opportunistic gamble that one had to make. With the cell phone, calls can be made at any place, and one’s own convenient time. In addition, another issue was the intertwinement of business and personal issues, as calls at work were strictly business and could not involve personal issues as it led to unprofessional conduct.

Due to lack of cell phones and the presence of landlines created professional images in accompanies and businesses. However, the presence of cell phones has come to bridge the boundary between personal life and the work place. This is because; they create opportunities for integrating work and personal issues, as one has the same number for the two aspects (Wajcman et al, 2007). Communication, other than the use of landline phones to make calls, required one to write letters, telegrams, and telegraphs or even fax the information to other individuals.

With this in mind, communication was a slow process taking up to weeks to reach the intended individual. This was especially so between friends who intended to keep in touch and relate with each other easily. The process of communication was tedious and inefficient considering that the letters did not always get to the intended individual at all, or in time. Social media, on the other hand, has eased communication by linking different people from a variety of divides and bringing them together (Mueller, 2011).

In respect to this, information flows easily between interested parties and cuts on the required to create and receive a response. Still, on flow of information, networking was a difficult thing to do as there was no single place to be in order to meet people with similar interests and goals, unless an individual met them by coincidence or created a local group of people who can easily meet if need be. However, social media has made that outdated by bringing numerous people and groups together.

This is in order to share ideas and thoughts on different topics with increased ease. This is especially