This short film is captioned, "A telephone technician explains to two young boys how different types of
communication foster links and interdependence between people." In the film, the telephone company repair man has to get a model airplane from the telephone wire and he explains to the boys how communication is more important than just talking to each other; it is about the transferring of ideas. There are simple ways of communication, such as talking to each other face-to-face, or more complicated ways, such as watching television. He goes on to explain that without communication the town wouldn't get along as well because communication ties everybody together.
The repair man also talks about how communication can be church bells ringing, an alarm clock, a factory whistle, a siren on a firetruck, and a policeman directing traffic. There are so many different types of communication, not just the obvious ones, like the telephone and letters.
The argument in this film is that communication is key to a successful community, which I think is very accurate. We are so reliant on technology we take the idea of communication for granted. This film brings up a good question: What would happen with no communication? Back then, it was a matter of being able to call the doctor if you were sick, but today, without communication, life would be much more difficult because of the extent to which we communicate with each other.
It's not too often that we think about an alarm clock or church bells being forms of communication. I liked how this video allowed the two boys and the viewer to think about other forms of communication rather than the obvious face-face, telephone, or sending a letter options. Your point about life being more difficult today if we didn't have communication is so true. We rely very heavily on the more advanced means of communication besides simply sending a letter or meeting with a person face-to-face.
ReplyDeleteInteresting take on kinds of communication and its relation to society, which also relates well to today's discussions of what makes a community in CA346. I think it's slightly alarming to see how thin we spread ourselves from an individual to a corporate or even governmental level. We rely so heavily on, not just communication technology, but the people, nations, and corporations it connects us to that severing that connection could lead any number of people into a state of disarray. We truly do take the various forms of communication each of us participate in for granted, because without a basis of simple communicative structures and the technology that derives from them, we would be stranded and alone, stuck in a world infinitely more difficult to make sense of.
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