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Understanding Media and Culture

In: Computers and Technology

Submitted By Pleasantpaige
Words 818
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Understanding Media and Culture Essay

Paige Pleasant

HUM/186

November 21, 2013
Lisa Smith

Understanding Media and Culture

American culture has gone through drastic changes in the last century. Americans have not only created new ways to reach a vast audience but also have continually updated and maintained means of broadcasting different types of media across the globe. Each new and updated development has played a significant role in the reshaping of America over the past 100 years. Furthermore, the term media convergence and how it has affected everyday life is important to understand as it has contributed its own piece to why and how Americans act the way they do. In the last century, American culture has evolved in accordance with its influence of the major developments of mass media and with media convergence. One major development that has evolved in the last century is the printing press. In the mid-fifteenth century media was hand written in books. Soon after the printing press was created, media was produced more quickly, was less expensive, and each copy was printed the same as the original. Later, Friedrich Koenig connected the printing press to a steam engine that duplicated printable media faster than ever before (19). The telegraph was the first means of sending and receiving messages electronically. No matter the distance, Americans had been presented with a much quicker and simpler form of sending and receiving messages. Little did America know the electrical telegraph was just the beginning. Once the transatlantic cable had been developed more wireless forms of communication and broadcasting were created such 26) In the early 1900s radio technology became the most popular form of media consumption. However, before Americans were able to listen to the radio inside their homes it was used for

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