πΏπππππππππ π°ππππππ Weekly Roundup
The Social Network of Tin-Cans and Telegrams
π₯«γ°π₯« The Social Network of Tin-Cans and Telegrams
The young love to fraternize; in the 2000s it was Facebook, in the 1920s it was telegrams and in the 1880s it was⦠tin-can telephones. When older generations pick up on popular new communication mediums, they liken them to a strange new habit or worse, an addiction.
The thing isβ¦ socializing, fraternizing, conversing is as natural and βaddictiveβ as breathing or sleeping: it is a core human need. Why is communication good and healthy, but telecommunication bad and addictive?
π» Radio Laggards
A fun example from 1927 of laggards (those at the far end of the diffusion of innovation graph) finally giving in and embracing the radio after initial resistance to it:
βThose who βwouldnβt have one the things in the houseβ are now getting them in as soon as possibleβ
π Not So Big Pharma
Profiteering has long been used by anti-vaxxers as a way to demonize those manufacturing vaccines. In 2021 it is big Pharma; Pfizer, GSK etc. In 1888 it was individual doctors, who were accused of promoting the method so as to make more money by seeing more patients.
π Happy Birthday Mosaic
The first commercial web browser turned 28 last week. Mosaic launched in 1993, a year later The Guardian ran a piece on the βnet backlash.β The critiques of today are not new and legit problems less unforeseen than assumed.
πͺ¦ Too Little Too Late
1904 article on man who let his family take vaccine first to see what happened, he got small-pox and died. Technophobia kills.
πͺΆ Tweet of the Week
