As the world neared the 20th century, new inventions were changing the way Americans travelled, communicated, and entertained each other. The invention and expansion of the railroad allowed people to travel long distances in a much decreased time, while the telegraph made it easier to communicate with those far away. Before, in both traveling and communication, there had to be much foresight involved, as it would often take weeks for a person or letter to arrive where it needed to. Therefore, these things happened much less often. People stayed relatively close to where they lived, and only communicated with those far away sparingly. However, once these new inventions spread their way into American life, people started thinking and living differently. Time and distance were not so important as they once were, as they could be transcended by technology. However, not everyone liked these societal changes. Below I’ve included a link of a post describing the ‘benefits and evils’ of the telegraph, in which it states that by getting the news immediately, it is often not as accurate. What I found amusing is that I’ve read many modern-day articles saying the same type of things about the convergence of social media and mass media. This goes to show that where there is innovation, there is always those condemning it.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/in-1858-people-said-the-telegraph-was-too-fast-for-the-truth/375171/