Impact of Technology Innovation in Stimulating Socio-Economic Changes - Essay Example

? History and Political Science This paper intended to present a comprehensive account of the impact that technology innovations had during the 19th century context in the then American society, taking the example of telephone. Taking into account the overall importance along with the various advantages and drawbacks associated with the technology innovation, the discussion in this paper also focused on identifying few major advocators of the technology and few major criticizers of the same in the then American society. Accordingly, the impacts of technology innovation in stimulating socio-economic changes have been reviewed in this paper. Introduction During the mentioned era of early 19th century, technology was of great importance as it made the life of the people easier and also helped to increase the pace and pattern of economic development. In the then society, — between the early 19th century to the mid 20th century — there were many technologies invented in the US, such as railroads, airplanes, refrigerators, textile mills and telephones among others. Similar to other technologies, telephones brought a dramatic change in the economic pattern of the US by influencing its societal relations as well as economic developments by a substantial extent (Lasen, 2001). Emphasizing the aforementioned notion, this discussion henceforth will aim to provide with an insight about the impact of telephone, as an innovative technology, on the 19th century American society, i.e. at the time of its invention. Importance of Technology In the year 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented telephone, which was used to communicate with people in distant places. After the invention of telephone, President Rutherford, on viewing it for the first time quoted, “That’s an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them” (Elon University, n.d.). Before Bell’s invention of telephone, communicating with people at distant places was not only a time-consuming task, but was also unreliable to maintain confidentiality and assurance that the message will reach undistorted to its intended destination. With the invention of telephone, the daily life of people changed to a great extent as they were now able to communicate with each other conveniently and at a much rapid pace. The telephone technology required no third party operator, as a direct communication was possible with the recipient(s) at the other end, which the postal mode lacked to a great extent. Additionally, unlike postal modes, telephone users did not require literary knowledge of writing and reading, which was a major advantage in the 19th century American society, especially for women. Hence, a strong need for telephone was felt by every individual, which could make their life much easier and convenient (Kang, n.d.). The telephone technology bought with itself an industrial revolution in America in the 19th century with the formation of American Bell Telephone Company. As a matter of fact, the importance of telephone was felt by the government as well, owing to the fact that this technology permitted communicate easily, with minimum chances of misinterpretation, and in a secured way assuring confidentiality along with time-efficiency. The technology also proved to be helpful in mitigating the limitations of geographic distances to a substantial extent, even though the telephone technology was not as advanced as it is today in communicating with people at distant places. Subsequently, the telephone industry saw a rapid growth in America as people were not only using this technology in their professional lives, but were also readily adapting the same in their personal area (Elon University, n.d.). Competencies and Setbacks of the Telephone Technology Telephone had given emphasis to true communication, which means a regular speaking and listening interaction within a group of people (Kang, n.d.). The telephone technology also enhanced the time efficiency of communication channels as now information could be send within few seconds from one geographic location to another, irrespective of its distance. Undoubtedly, this particular advantage of the telephone technology drew much attention in the 19th century American society. However, when considering from a contrary viewpoint, the invention of telephone services, gradually led to the downfall of the postal service industry. Prior to the innovation of telephone, postal services were the only mode used by the American society people to communicate with their relatives or throughout their official network. But, with the introduction of telephone, limitations of postal services industry became apparent and gradually its demand was confined within lower economic group and a proportion of the middle economic class (Kang, n.d.). From an economic perspective it can be affirmed that the technology as quite competitive in addressing and mitigating the limitations of the traditional mode of distant communication. However, a social view to the invention indicates its responsibleness in the steady demolition of the traditional communication modes. Another setback of the technology during that era was its cost-intensive nature. The costs of telephones were initially higher and were not affordable by every common people in the American society, owing to the persisting socio-economic segregation between various classes. The telephone was prompted on the ground that it would bring wealth, service and improved mean of communication for the society. Subsequently, the impact of this technology was such that it led to the development of office building and an urban working society in America. It changed the pace of business and made the world smaller and easily accessible for all (Fang, 1997). Certainly, the introduction of telephone had stimulated with the then American society was the altering interpersonal relation between men and women. Facilitating an open mode of communication, interactions between men and women belonging to different classes became possible through telephone, which was a matter of strong consideration for the American society as it was believed that socio-economic classes are meant to be segregated where the richer owned the power to practice authority over the poorer class (Lasen, 2001). Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it can be apparently observed that the major advocators of telephone, as a technology innovation included the American government, industrial participants, and by the rich socio-economic class of the then American society. The advocators were majorly motivated due to the advantages offered by the technology, mitigating the setbacks of the traditional communication mode, i.e. the postal medium. To governmental advocators, the technology also aided with a higher degree of confidentiality and distortion free communication option, which further motivated these participants to favor the innovation. However, on the other hand, industries depending on the postal network communication, as well as those social participants for whom the technology was unaffordable at its introductory stage, criticized the innovation as discouraging for the traditional economic patterns. Conservative social communities also deciphered grave concern and criticized the way telephone was promoting open communication within men and women in the then society, allowing interaction between various economic classes. To be precise, telephone stimulated an inevitable change in the 19th century American society. Reluctant participants to such change thus criticized the innovation, while the participants who were open to such alterations in the social and economic dimensions, advocated the introduction of telephone in America. References Elon University. (n.d.). 1870s-1940s- Telephone. Retrieved from http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/150/1870.xhtml Fang, Irving. (1997). A History of Mass Communication. United States of America: Butterworth-Heinemann.  Kang, Daljinder. (n.d.). The Impact of the Telephone on Society. Retrieved from http://courses.educ.ubc.ca/etec540/Sept04/kangd/Researchproject/inventionoftelephone.htm Lasen, A. (2001). The Social Shaping of Fixed and Mobile Networks: A Historical Comparison. Retrieved from http://www.kiwanja.net/database/document/report_mobile_history.pdf Read More