Communication between modern folks is a crucial part of our culture. Since it would not be very productive if our only communication was through writing letters and speaking in person, technologies were invented to make life easier for us. Among these many communication technologies are cell phones and e-mail. These two communication technologies expand our ability to speak with others through more creative and productive methods.

            Electronic mail, abbreviated e-mail, allows us to send text, images, videos, and much more through the internet. The modern e-mail systems are based on a store-and-forward method in which the email service that you’re are using accepts, forwards or stores the input provided by the user. Originally, only text could be sent through e-mail, but now, virtually anything can be sent such as audio and video clips.

            E-mail started in 1965 as a way for users of time-share mainframe computers to communicate. Although not many users were using email at this time, that soon changed one year later in 1966. Now, e-mail quickly became network e-mail and allowed users to send messages to each other through the personalized computers (PC). Although e-mail is a very useful technology, you might be wondering, how does e-mail work?

            Similar to real life mailing, e-mail navigates around “servers”. You see, when you mail a letter to another country, it does not automatically reach that country. It stops at posts and then travels to another post all the way until the mailman delivers the letter to you. This mailman of the e-mailing world is called mail servers. These mail servers receive your messages and forward them until they reach their destination. It sound like a lot of processes, but really, it only takes a matter of seconds, which makes emailing so useful.

            The next communication technology I will be discussing is the mobile phone, more referred to as cell phones. A mobile phone is a portable telephone that connects with the telephone network over radio wave transmission. Some of its key features allow us to speak with each other through voice communication, video communication, text communication, and sending pictures to one another. We could even check out e-mails through the internet on our mobile phones.

            You could say that the cell phone is a very complex radio. This is because the way that a cellular phone works is by sending and receiving radio signals with any number of cell site base stations fitted with microwave antennas. These cell sites are usually on a pole located at a populated area. When you use your phone, it’s low power transceiver transmits your data to the nearest cell site which is usually to more than five to eight miles away.

            In order to use a mobile phone, you need to have a power supply and a SIM card. The power supply usually comes from a rechargeable battery that can be charged through a USB port[1]. SIM cards are required in mobile phones and are usually placed under the battery and are the size of a postage stamp. These microchips store the phones configuration, and information about the phone itself. This information consists of the subscriber’s call plan and network. If the user wishes, then they can take out their SIM card and out it in another phone to work as normal.

            In conclusion, communication technologies such as e-mail and cell phones have made out life a lot easier. Without them, it would take hours, days, even weeks to deliver messages to one another. As I mentioned before, communication is a crucial part of modern society. If it wasn’t for these technologies, we would not be where we are today.

[1] A USB port is a USB socket on a computer or peripheral device into which a USB cable is plugged.