Mind Over Mass Media

There was a time in our society, where people didn’t know what technology was. Throughout history, developments in technology and communication have coincided with one another, and the technological world has urbanized bringing communication to a new echelon. From the postal mail to email, the telegraph to cell phones, communication has been formed by technology advances for over a hundred years. Postal mail has long existed as a system of transferring written messages between individuals. The necessity of postal mail has decreased over time with the introduction of email. In 1971 Ray Tomlinson created the email. Email has replaced the function of marketing mail, business transactions and personal communication. Written communication has also advanced to the form of …show more content…
Much online communication is done publicly, allowing anyone with internet access to obtain an audience. Social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus let users follow anyone they find attention-grabbing, and some people have an audience of millions of people. The ease of sharing also lets news and information travel with unbelievable speed as users share links with each other, meaning that breaking news can reach hundreds of millions of people exactly as it is occurring. The speed of news has been able to save lives and promote assistance. In Steven Pinker’s essay “Mind over Mass Media, the author argues about the effects of technologies on mental development. Pinker believes that technology is very valuable, and it keeps people smart. To prove his argument, he brings up several points to look at when considering how mass media plays a role in our culture. “ Fortunately, the internet and information technologies are helping us manage, search, and retrieve our collective intellectual output at different scale, from Twitter and previews to e-books and online