How Did The Telegraph Affect Society

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The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage provides a comprehensive history of the invention and development of the telegraph, beginning with the communication devices that set the stage for the “modern” telegraph and ending the with its demise. The changes that were introduced the telegraph were disruptive in nature to society, and had similar impacts that we experience from the internet today (though on a much smaller scale). However, these changes did not occur all at once, they were slowly realized through technological innovations and culture change. The message of the telegraph as a new medium for communication took decades to come to full fruition and innovators had to fight hard to advance scientific knowledge and overcome societal issues …show more content…

Up until this point, there was simply no way in which to communicate more quickly than the fastest horse or boat. The device relied on mechanical arms atop a tower on a hill that were positioned in a specific manner and a codebook for the corresponding messages. The system required a line of sight between transmission towers and there was a finite limit on the variety of messages that could be sent. At first it was used almost solely for military communication. This primitive method caught on quickly and transmission towers started popping up all over France and Europe.

It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that Samuel Morse demonstrated the capability of his electric telegraph to send messages along a wire via electrical pulses using Morse code. The invention was commercialized in the US and a similar method sprung up in the UK. However, public employment of the telegraph was rough at the start. People were unable to understand the device, much less comprehend the implications associated with it. Once the full utility was realized, the new medium caught on quickly and telegraph lines were expanded exponentially as public use sky

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