video conference – Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program

The internet and social media have flourished over the last 40 years and exponentially in the past 20 years.

Look at how far we’ve come!

During Expo 1967, I recall visiting a kiosk where they had a landline telephone. When you made a call from the landline, you could see your face reflected on a monitor screen in front of you. I recall thinking to myself we would, in the not-so-distant future, walk around with a portable phone and be able to see the person we were talking to from their phone. Fast forward several decades later, that insight has become a reality.

From Audio to Video

After Alexander Graham Bell discovered the telephone in 1876, research and development into a portable videophone became his focus. Although he had the intuitive idea and insight on how it should function, he never achieved that dream. Others eventually forged ahead with this idea. This notion progressed into the invention of television. Subsequently, a video conference from a landline phone

Evolution of television 1920-2020

with a video camera combination came about. According to Wikipedia, it would seem that the first portable videophone created by a Japanese company in 1983 came on the market sometime around 1986. This portable videophone could be attached to a television monitor for clearer video reception. For more detailed facts about the advancement of television and telephone (landlines, vehicular, and portable units), check out this great article. Approximately 25 years later, around 2010 facetime, (portable video conferencing) became available.

Black & white television – Pexels by Andre Moura

Fast forward to 2021, we can now watch television programs, movies, documentaries, have two-way or group video chats, send and receive email communication, text messaging all on our smartphones, tablets, and personal computers, instantaneously.

How much more can we expect?

We live in an electronic world. Television manufacturers are continuously improving visual and sound quality to make their units more attractive and enticing to consumers. You can purchase ambient televisions that morph into your background wall color, while others are as thin as a credit card or roll out of a cabinet, and some even double-sided. A large screen television gives you the feeling like you could step into it and partake in the program. Television stations and manufacturers have inter-married their products with electronic devices, having all sorts of streaming capabilities. With all of this available technology, people are multi-tasking. We are obsessed with television, all the while scrolling through our portable phones or tablets. We have become enslaved to television, never letting go of the remote, and constantly surfing stations – it is an addiction. We are tech addicts. Television is not going anywhere in the near future.