Ashley Guadalupe
Explanatory Essay (REVISED)
November 7, 2014

The Evolution of technology and communication from the past twenty years until today

In this day and age, there is hardly a need for face to face communication. With cell phones, email, and social media, we have and are becoming more and more socially awkward. Let’s go back twenty years from now, when most of today’s technology didn’t even exist. No one really had cell phones, or computers, maybe a beeper (pager) if you were lucky. So how did we get to where we are today? Today if a parent wants to find their child they have to text him or her, break ups happening via text or email, doctors are having video conferences from all parts of the world, some even aiding in life saving surgeries. Twenty years ago there were cell phones, the first cell phone was created in 1983, however they were very pricey averaging around 1,100 dollars, and not many families could afford this luxury. These phones were huge, with big buttons, and huge antennas. The battery life on these phones was only about an hour. Most homes in the early 90’s had only a landline phone. Communication was so much more personal back then. People came to your home to visit you and have a chat. People mailed letters and cards to family and friends far away. No one texted, or instant messaged. Kids passed notes in class, this generation of kids will never experience the fear of being caught and having to read the note aloud to the class. Our parents would call us in for dinner from the window, they didn’t text us or call our cell phones. Later on in the 90’s came the good old beeper. It was a small device used to page/beep a person for a small monthly fee. People could “beep” friends by dialing the person’s beeper number and then entering the number to be sent to the beeper. The beeper would then signal to the owner the number to