[What are Media?]

Media are the different methods of communication. Communication is the sharing of information, ideas and thoughts among people. It is a vital part of life for every person. Therefore, media are very important to us. Advertisements, telecommunication, newspapers, postcards and letters are all examples of media.

Telephone, television, advertisements and the radio are all forms of communication. Alexander Graham Bell developed the telephone in 1876. Although it was not the first telecommunications, the telephone still had a large impact on people’s lives. For the first time, we can press a few buttons and talk to anyone in the world. We need not wait for people to return letters for us. Now, we can even send pages of papers to people and look at their faces while talking to them. The telephone really added convenience to people’s lives.

The television also made a great impact on human’s lives. Scottish inventor John Logie Baird invented it in 1926. American inventor Vladimir Zworykin built the first electronic television that was able to broadcast sound and pictures together made improvements. Soon, the first color television broadcasts were made. In recent years, satellite and cable television have provided a wider choice of programs for viewers.

Advertising uses communications media promote sales of goods, services, etc. They can be made on television, on a radio station, or by people. Advertising dated back to the time of the ancient Romans, where ads were used to entice people into local taverns or shops. Modern advertising began in America in the nineteenth century. At that time, catalogues were handed out to people on the streets. Soon, people called “sandwich board men” were employed onto streets as walking ads. Not long after, advertisements were made in movies and on television. Now, advertisements are even seen atop buildings! Advertising is really the type of media that has changed the most throughout time.

A radio is a machine used for listening to people talking on radio stations. Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi invented it. A radio transmits sound by radio waves. As well as giving news to people, the radio is also an exciting form of entertainment. Shows and serials broadcast on a radio can provide entertainment. Radio really provided many new things to the people and let them live in a more interesting and fun world than before.

[Media in Modern Days]

Media has changed throughout the years, making many improvements. Now, new types of media begin to appear. For example, GPS and microchips. Old kinds of media like the radio still exist, but they are rarely used. The telephone has evolved a lot, and hand-held telephones (mobile phones) were invented. Some mobiles can even allow you look at the person you talk! The new kinds of media made our lives easier. GPS (global positioning system) can help us find our way around the world and allows us to pinpoint anything in the world at a split second. Microchips are tiny computers that let us open doors, computers and windows automatically. They can also store data once they are implanted. They are useful for studying animals and finding them.

Media has really evolved and changed rapidly. New high-tech types of media have appeared, while the older ones have not vanished yet. Up to now, the story of media has still been flowing on and on, and it may continue forever.

[The interesting sides of Media]

Although we know almost all the ways of media, some kinds are kept secret. These types of media are interesting to discover, and they include secret communication and decoding. Many countries use the first type of media to communicate without being discovered, while they use the second kind to discover the secret codes of enemies. These two practices have been used at war for a long time.

The first two types of the interesting sides of Media are perception and interpretation. Perception is the process where data received by our senses are converted brain in to meaningful information. To do this, we must know the meaning of the message. However, some messages are written in code so we cannot know the direct meaning of a message. When we receive messages of this kind, we must use our brain to interpret the message. Throughout history, many people have invented codes and many others have decoded the codes. On other occasions, a message may deliberately contain one more meaning to confuse people or they may be made by accident. These may also provide insights about our minds, or challenge particular attitudes of people.

Early communication and secret communication are also interesting sides of media. Before post offices, the telephone and computers were invented, early people used strange ways to communicate. For example, the Inca messengers in South America used shells to communicate. Sound is amplified by the hollow chamber inside the shell, which makes the sound louder. Drums were also used in Africa to communicate. Beating a “talking drum” was considered talking for the tonal sounds that are produced actually resemble language. Smoke signals are also used to communicate. Burning damp leaves with firewood encourages thick smoke, which can be seen from far away. In North America, a column of smoke means the location of a new campsite, while there columns means good news. Although these types of media are only used to convey simple messages, they are still fascinating to study.

Secret communication is a kind of media that uses codes to send messages that are hard to interpret. Many secret services have used secret communication to send messages to their spies. The messages usually contain important information to the spy. It may be about the strategy of the leader, the strategy of an enemy, important discoveries and the enemy’s next move. Messages are often written into mass of words that are carefully arranged. The receiver knows the code so he can read the message. Enemies also try their best to decode the secret message if they have discovered it. Sometimes, messages are hidden so they cannot be found. The sole of a shoe, the inside of a hollowed cigar and the inside of a film camera are all good hiding places. Still, it is a cat and mouse game for the two sides as they try to be the first to decode the message.

Anything has its own secrets and interesting parts, including media. Many interesting types of media have vanished, but some still remain. Yet, there may be some kinds of media that are concealed, waiting to be discovered.

[Computers and the Internet]

Computers, the internet and virtual reality (VR) are new, high-tech ways of communicating. They use the latest technology to help us find information, explore hidden places we will otherwise never see in our lifetime and let us write essays more conveniently. We have never experienced such convenience before.

In less than five decades, the computer has revolutionized the way we communicate with others. With a computer, we can write to people and send the e-mail to them through the internet. Computer technology has also given disabled people a chance to communicate clearly for the first time and is a valuable teaching aid in schools. In addition, computers can control robots that can perform dangerous tasks without risking human lives and lowering the failure rate. Moreover, the “backbone” of many new forms of media and communicating like VR and the internet are computers. Computers really sparked many new interests in the world of humans and let us do many things never done before.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a simulation of a real or invented environment with computer technology. VR worlds can be viewed on video screens or special headsets that contain a small digital screen. Data gloves or special suits are sometimes included with the headset the give the users a simulated sense of touch. VR has been used to make 3-D computer games and train people like pilots and astronauts. Virtual reality machines have also been used in crash testing, so the manufactures can see the damage immediately. In addition, VR is being used to recreate past buildings or even cities for users to explore. VR enables us to explore places and train people just by wearing a headset. It has helped us do normally hard things easily.

The Internet is the fastest-growing medium in the world. It started out as a secret military project in the United States, and is now a worldwide network of millions of computers. The Internet is now widely used for education, entertainment and business. It enables users to get information they want at the click of a mouse. Many comics, games and chat rooms are also found in the Internet. These are good sources of entertainment. The internet also gave people a chance to communicate without the need to write. They can type messages or use simple symbols to communicate with people. Now, we can even shop, listen to songs and make bookings on the web instead to running everywhere to shops and headquarters. The Internet really saved us a lot of time so that we can relax and relive the pressure from work.

[Media and us]

How do media influence our lives? This is a frequently asked question when people read essays about media. These three paragraphs are specially written to answer this question. They talk about three examples of the influence of media on our lives and then compare them. The answer to this frequently asked question lies in these specially written paragraphs.

The first way media influences our lives are our lifestyle. The Internet is a good example of this. Before the Internet or computers were invented, people used to ask people questions more frequently. They also go to the library or read books related to the question. Also, people played games and listened to the radio as forms of entertainment. Now, however, people can find more than a hundred related websites about their question. They also need not find people for entertainment, for there are a more than a thousand chat rooms and game sites in the Internet. Because our lives became much more convenient after the invention of the Internet, it is one of the most successful kinds of media in history.

Learning is also a good example of how media influences our lives. Before the invention of widely used learning tools like the computer, people were taught by mouth and examples. The more experience a person has, the more his pupils can learn. Although most people are still taught by mouth and examples nowadays, the computer has made it easier for the students to understand what the teacher teaches, and therefore makes the job of the teacher easier. Power Points and slide shows with some fun learning games will make a lesson fun. Hence, the students will be motivated to learn more. This enables the student to have a wider range of knowledge, which is good for the student and appealing to the teacher. The learning tools widely used today have really helped us a lot in getting more knowledge.

The last example of the influences of media is human relationships. Before new, hi-tech types of media like the Internet and VR were invented, people often used letters to communicate with friends and family. Direct contact with people could be only done by a visit. Nowadays, however, we can get closer to people with the new kinds of media. Web-cams and videophones enable us to see people while communicating with them. In addition, people need days to receive letters and reply, but e-mails can be immediately sent by the click of a mouse. The receiver can also reply immediately if he wants to. This is much more convenient than sending letters. Moreover, friends do not contact frequently in the olden days, but we can talk with friends as long as we want in chat rooms now. However, some people indulge in Virtual Reality machines so they rarely visit “real” people. This instead makes their relationships with friends and family few and far between, as they rarely communicate with each other. In my opinion, I still think modern media has made our relationships with others better. Although VR has sometimes stopped users from contacting with other people, they have the choice to stop playing and communicate more. This also makes our relationships warmer. In short, some types of media have made our relationships better, while others have done the opposite. Nevertheless, we can choose to communicate with people more, rather than spend all our time indulging in such types of media. Still, making our relationships with others better or worst is our choice.

I have recently opened a Xanga site in which are some essays about some inventions of mine. If you are interested, please go to http://www.xanga.com/private/yourhome.aspx?user=yeungkinglunjoshua and leave me a comment. Thanks all readers!!