The fast paced changes in technology have a significant impact on nearly every aspect of a person’s day to day life. One of the largest impacts can be seen in the world of digital and electronic media. The advances in technology have created new forms of media, altered others and left some forms to almost non-existence. The delivery of mass media has also greatly been affected by technological advances as the quality; quantity and speed of delivery continue to improve with each passing year. This paper is going to provide an overview of mass media from conception to present and the effect that technology has on this ever changing field. In the early 1900s, radio broadcasting was a significant form of mass media. Nationally broadcasted programs could reach audiences all over the United States This mark a change in US history and gave the individual a since of being an American. Raido broadcasting gave listeners the same style of environments from entertainment, news reporting’s and other forms of media. In the 1950s “television began to increase in popularity and affordability, creating yet another major, unifying influence in American society” (Vivian, 2011) During the early days television and radio programs were used for advertising, news as well as entertainment. The early exposer helped to inform and entertain the mid-1900s family as they began tuning in to their favorite television shows and radio broadcast. This sense of informed unity began to change with the introduction of cable television in the 1970s. This became an alternative to the local broadcasting and gave the public many different options and programing choices. (Vivian, 2011) This allowed for a specific audience to be targeted in both entertainment and other venues. The creation of satellite broadcasting changed the world once again with the invention of nationwide programming. In the early years of newspapers the papers only included written information in the local area with local news. It was not until much later that the idea of national news became possible. Early newspapers did not include pictures to go with the information. It was not until the invention of photography that pictures other than hand drawn images became possible. The invention of photography not only allowed readers to see their stories, it also paved the way for the rising movie industry. (Vivian, 2011)
Voice recordings were made as early as the 1800s this allowed for the recording and replacement of live readings and music. In the 1970 the invention of digital recording allowed for increased quality across all forms of mass media.
The invention of digital technology has touched all forms of media from music, television to general information. All things are at the public’s finger tips. People now have access to better quality movies and music and are able to save them as digital information to their computers and send them in emails all over the world. The internet has given mass media another life changing breakthrough people are now able to get information with the click of a button. Information is available 24 7 on websites. Information is also available from more sources than ever with sites such as Facebook Twitter and MySpace becoming centers of information exchange, the days of reading a physical paper or waiting on a newscast are over. These advances have caused issues for the typical recording artist/ production companies as it is possible to download music and movies straight to the home of the views. This has caused major legal issues over the last few years. In short media continues to change at a very rapid rate over the last decade information has become open and available to the viewer’s day or night. Television show and movies will never be the same with the rise of companies such as Netflix and hulu. It is going to be interesting to see the new forms of media that come out over the next decade.,

References
Vivian, J. (2011). The media of mass communication, 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Retrieved April 3, 2012 from the University of Phoenix student materials web page. Wikipedia (2012). Sound recording and reproduction Retrieved April 3, 2012 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_recording_and_reproduction