Panama Canal Convergence

On January 25, 1915, events were only just underway to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal in San Francisco, CA. Alexander Graham Bell was in New York with several other important people. His assistant, Thomas Watson, was in San Francisco for the Panamic-Pacific International Exposition. President Woodrow Wilson was at the Whitehouse and Theodore Vail, the president of American Telephone and Telegraph Company was on Jekyll Island. History was being made in more ways than one on this winter day. These four men were the first to make coast-to-coast, long distance phone calls in the United States, which triggered an evolution of mass media over the next one hundred years (PPIE). Since that first transcontinental call, telephones have morphed into more than just a means to speak to one another. Its evolution seems to have had the most impact on society than any other. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company later became better known as AT&T. In …show more content…
Those who have grown up texting and chatting on social networks have acquired a short hand in order to communicate even fast. Terms such as “LOL” or “OMG” have found their way onto television and movie screens. Other, more technological terms have also been created. The term convergence is now used by many media professionals to describe the “several overlapping phases or eras in which newer forms of technology disrupted and modified older forms” (Campbell, Fabos & Martin. Ch 1 Pg 6). Convergence has changed the way our society uses and accesses media. All forms of media (social media, digital news broadcasts, and videos) are accessible through the internet. This has allowed people to connect more with each other. However, it has also resulted in a lack of broadness in who people associate with. Individuals tend to communicate more with people who share similar interests and think as they do (Campbell, Fabos &