The Internet A New Medium Of Communication

Out of all the communication technologies ever invented, none have been more impactful and transformative than the internet. The internet is different from previous communications technologies because of its potential reach, disruption of the old social order, and how vastly it has changed our world. 

What makes the internet different from other communication technologies is its ability to reach a broad audience at a low cost of transmission (as shown through Professor Wilson’s graph). Telephone transmission, for example, is relatively inexpensive. However, it's very expensive to scale up to reach a broad audience (as it is usually used to communicate one on one). The cost of transmission for television and radio however, are much higher than the telephone. It is more expensive to transmit their signals across the globe (in addition to the expense of the equipment) but much easier to reach a broad audience. The internet, however, is relatively inexpensive to transmit due to the principle of net neutrality. Simply put, “net neutrality is the twenty-first century’s version of common carriage” (Wu, The Master Switch, 417). This means that carriers of the internet cannot discriminate against any individual sites on the internet or any transmissions of data. Not only does this (in theory) put websites on equal footing, it also provides an (essentially) free means of distribution as companies (i.e. Netflix) can transmit through the wires of other companies. Therefore, the cost of transmission is relatively low and the number of people that can be reached is essentially limitless.                      

Early means of communication were only used by the wealthy (as they were mostly the only ones who could read and write) and dominated by big business. The creation of the telephone and radio allowed for those who were otherwise excluded from the communication technologies of the past to participate (as over time they became affordable). However, large corporations soon took control over these mediums. Right when the internet began to take off in the early 1990s, “a gang of conglomerates comfortably controlled film, cable, and broadcasting” industries (Wu, 391). What made it onto the television screen, what films were produced, and what was being said on radio stations was closely monitored and controlled by these companies. This control allowed the corporations to decide what people heard and saw, an effort meant to ensure their power over these industries and to limit the technological developments of their products- thus ensuring something new was not created that disrupted their control of power (i.e. AT&T Bell Lab [Wu]). The internet however, was completely different. 

While large corporations soon came to dominate the internet/technology industry, the principle of net neutrality is what ensured that these corporations did not have a tight grip on what people could access. This is what stops AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint, or Apple and Google from blocking certain websites and/or anything else on the internet that they displease or view as bad for their profits (ex-  blocking a specific competing app on the app store). This openness has ensured that content generated by anyone could be reached by anyone with access to the internet; or as Professor Wilson put it, “any idiot can (and is) broadcast[ing] to the world.” This openness and ability to broadcast as well as consume has allowed the internet to grow and flourish into our preferred medium of communication. No longer are these big corporations in control of the information that is transmitted to society, the people can now do what these corporations tried to restrict (the democratization of communication). Due to this openness and the broad range of internet/availability, the internet has become the first universal broadcast technology.     

For a world that has seemingly been continuously run by the big corporations and/or politicians, the internet is so vastly different and greatly more influential than any other communication technology of past as “the individual holds more power than at any time in the past century, and literally in the palm of his hand” (Wu, 435). This power has changed the world and how humans live. No longer are face to face interactions as essential (to communication and business) as they once were. We now use the internet to shop, share information with one another, and are constantly logged on, exploring the internet for what it has to offer. Change how we communicate and you can change the world. The internet has done this more than any other communication technology in a very long time.