Reading 1
In today's world, we have different kinds of media available to us at all times, but did you know that the history of media actually goes back millennia?
The word ‘media’ refers to the different ways in which people transmit information. By this definition, we can say with confidence that human beings created the first type of media around 64,000 years ago when we first began painting simplistic symbols on the walls of caves. Since then, the more we have evolved, the more advanced our media have become.
According to experts, it was sometime around 3,400 BC when human beings first began utilizing written language as a means of communication. For generations, apart from verbal communication, people had to write everything manually until the mid-1440s. It was Johannes Gutenberg who revolutionized media when he created an invention called the printing press. This marked the beginning of what we now call 'mass media: Gutenberg's innovative invention made print media like books, newspapers and magazines at a large scale and share information with a wider audience than ever before.
Several hundred years after the invention of the printing press, during the 19th century, we created cameras and later, the radio. The invention of the radio began the age of broadcast media, and the development of television swiftly followed it. This allowed many people to watch fascinating movies, programs and documentaries, all of which remain popular today.
In the 2000s, we saw the rise of digital media. Now, we visit web pages, listen to podcasts, stream music and communicate on social media using our smartphones. We even use QR codes to share information instantly. We have come a long way, and so have the ways we communicate!
Adapted from Bright 12-Textbook
