Many people don’t realise how communication has changed so quickly over the past century and especially over the past two decades. It is only within the last twenty years that many people are able to carry a world of information and instant personal communication in their hands wherever they are!
Perhaps it is hard to believe that the iPhone and Android phone have only been available since 2007; in fact some say that this was the year that the whole world changed. Can you imagine today a world without email, internet and instant messaging, video and calls in your hands that is always available?
Before the rise in popularity of the mobile phone if you were away from your home phone you would have had to have some coins in your pocket and look for a red “Phone Box” which was connected to the “Post Office Telephone” wired network.
Some of these red boxes still exist – have you spotted one anywhere?
Before the voice telephone was available this same type of wired system was used for something called “telegraphy” which was sending messages from one place to another. This was where trained operators used ‘Morse Code’ a series of short and long flashing lamps or buzzers to send messages.
When the first wireless phones or “cell phones” were eventually introduced they were so large that they were usually installed in a car or other vehicle. This is where the name “Carphone Warehouse” originally came from.
In this issue Sofia has researched further because mum has promised her a mobile and so Sofia has come up with her findings while considering the developments in the past century and especially in the past twenty years.
Can you, like Sofia, imagine how life and learning without this technology might be - especially at times when there are pandemics and it is not safe to be too close to other people?
Sofia’s Blog – my very own research into the changes in personal communication over the past two centuries!
My mum has said I can have a new mobile when I turn eleven years old. I will need to be really careful not to lose it and very aware of the safety implications! I have been researching into different models in order to make the best choice. I decided to look back at the history of the rise and importance of radio communication in Wales, searching on the Internet. This is what I have come up with;
The main competitor to the iPhone uses an operating system called Android which has been developed by Google. Now I need to decide which one I would like, mum says; while she is saving up for it!
In the other older types of mobile the keys just had numbers, you would have sometimes have to press the keys more than once to select different letters if you wish to use them to text – not sure I could cope with this with the number of texts I hope to send!
Can you use an old style dial telephone?
Before we had mobiles and modern digital phones most telephones used a sprung dial mechanism. You may still find these in some places.
To make a telephone call you needed to follow the steps outlined below.
What’s the best way to communicate?
Can you decide which method of communication is best to use to reply in each case. Consider how quickly a response is needed, whether the recipient is able to access your message and how much the message would cost.
Solutions available are:
In some there may be more than one response:
A. Your mum is shopping in town – you have just remembered you need a new notepad for school.
B. You have received a handwritten letter from your great aunt in which she has sent you some money for your birthday.
C. Your friend has invited you in a text to go to the cinema with her and her family. She needs to know quickly whether you can come.
D. You have received a letter from your school asking whether you might be interested in taking part in the local Eisteddfod.
E. You want to send your pen pal some digital photographs of your local town.
F. You wish to send a PowerPoint presentation that you have made to your friend who lives a long distance away.
G. You need to complain to a mail order company for faulty goods that they have sent you.
H. You wish to order a “take away” for delivery from a local fast food shop.
I. You wish to cancel an appointment at the dentists.
J. You want to contact your local paper with an advertisement to sell the stick insects you have bred yourself.
K. You need to send your online homework in to school.
Answers
Questions on Sofia’s Blog – what do you remember?
Can you help Sofia to remember the dates that different inventions came into popular use – she has already listed these in her blog but needs to have her memory jogged!
1. In what year was the iPhone first available?
2. Sofia cannot remember when Marconi first sent a message across the Bristol Channel using something called Morse Code. Tadcu said that this was the equivalent of the first text message! In which year did he send this message?
3. When Sofia told Tadcu that she was hoping for a mobile phone Tadcu told her that way back in the 1950s he had a job in the Post Office. Was it:
4. Whilst carrying out her research on the history of telecommunication Sofia discovered that the first telegraph underwater message from Wales to Ireland and then on to America was sent from a beach in Pembrokeshire. Was this:
5. The iPhone was invented by Apple Computers in the USA, it’s main competitor uses an operating system called “Android” – but which company owns and develops the Android system according to Sofia?
CYMRU MOBILES LTD
Branches in Bangor, Newtown, Cardiff and Swansea
Our best buy SIM-ONLY packages at Cymru Mobiles – a SIM to fit your own phone at a special young persons’ price!
Choose from a special monthly rate for students and younger users – or a simple pay as you go deal.
You may top up extra data whenever you wish for a month at a time or pay by minute or text as you use your phone!
Monthly package charges:
Special Monthly Rate £5 per month! – just text monthly 5 to 124569:
Includes unlimited Minutes, Unlimited Texts and 2gb of data per month!
For 2gb Extra at £5 for a month data – text data5 to 124569
Please note that at the end of each month you lose any unused data, texts
or minutes – picture messages are extra.
Pay as you go charges:
Calls 10p per minute
Texts 10p per text
Data £3 per gb
Hurry this offer ends soon – buy online or visit us in store in Bangor High Street (social distancing rules are followed).
You can top up your account with a voucher bought at any supermarket or by text using a bank card. All users must be a student or under 18 years of age. Users under 14 years old must have the permission of a parent or guardian to enter into an agreement with Cymru Mobiles Ltd. High Street Bangor Gwynedd Wales.
Young Wales
September 14th 2020
Young Wales reports that whilst many of today’s adults were content as children at age 11 to play in the street, play with toys indoors, watch the television or read books, things are changing! It has been suggested that even as way back in 2014 70% of those aged 11-12 (rising to 90% at age 14) now owned their own mobile. These children would now be at the school leaving age! Now in 2020 we are on the way to the place where just about every young person will have their own mobile before they get to secondary school.
It is concerning though that according to an article in the Daily Express, researchers have suggested that children could be more at risk from radiation because their “potential cumulative lifetime exposure is far greater than any adult today”.
According to the article “While there is no convincing evidence that they affect adult health, experts believe children may be more vulnerable because of their developing nervous systems and thinner skulls which absorb higher levels of radio energy.”
The Department of Health said at that time: “There is no evidence that use of mobile phones affects health, but we want to keep all available information under review.” The main question this raises for the users and for teachers, parents and guardians is whether “benefits outweigh the risk”.
In Sweden some schools have lined the classroom walls with lead to stop radio waves from reaching the pupils. Some schools in Wales have banned pupils from bringing in such equipment to class whilst others have promoted the use of smart devices by pupils as it enables them to research and work independently. Schools also have wireless networks themselves in the classrooms.
With the 2020 pandemic and the very fast move to learning from home and “blended learning” using online learning environments like the Welsh Education “Hwb” where you can work online and interact with teachers this could become a possible problem.
“Young Wales” would like to know what the views of the young people of Wales are – do you think that these possible risks are worth taking and do you find online learning beneficial? Is it fair that some pupils are not able to easily access online learning as their families can’t afford to buy the equipment?
