Computer networks have had a profound effect on the way that we communicate with each other. The first computer network was invented to allow for a distributed communications network that lets a person do automatic rerouting. The original job of this type of system was to allow government researchers and military leaders to continue monitoring the possibility of danger from the enemy. Below are some effects that computer networks have had on communications.
- New rebirth of correspondence.
Some people believe that the Internet and email have pejorated the English language and the way that we communicate as people because it has become so impersonal. However, others believe that it has caused the way that we communicate to become more broad, and that it has done more good than bad. One argument for computer networking is that it has caused the art of letter writing to be reborn because it now takes us less time to write it.
The art of writing letters has resulted in more spontaneous letters being sent because it takes almost less than a second for information to travel across the world.
Instantly sending messages across the world has represented something new and extraordinary in the world of computer networks. Instant messaging saw the increase in usage of 'text language' and emoticons which served as a replacement for people's facial expressions and body language. Internet instant messaging has allowed people to continue real time communication anytime they wish, and they are also able to edit their conversations simply by hitting the backspace button. This is something that cannot happen in real life conversations.
The majority of communications that occur over the Internet, except video calling, are text based, and therefore lack certain aspects of human communication such as facial expressions and body language. The fact that we can remain anonymous over the Internet has caused some people to blame the Internet for a rise in anti social behavior.
