Human Communication Technology: 3rd Edition

Each new human communication technology was accompanied by promises but also concerns . . . the same concerns that came with the last human communication technology. Did some cave parents wonder if drawing on the walls would corrupt their children? Did some people think the monks scribbling the first books would go blind staring at the paper all day? Some did think that Guttenberg’s typeface would lose the expressiveness in the hand written manuscripts and that the telegraph and telephone would destroy intimacy. Of course, television was supposed to destroy the family, and computer communication would ruin society.

This similarity of concerns should not be too surprising since communication is so central to the human condition. This third edition updates and expands the research about core issues related to human communication technology. The book begins by examining the nature of information, human communication, and technology and ends by considering the confusion that can accompany hybrid reality. Along the way, there is material about privacy and anonymity online, internet addiction, cyber-bullying and trolling, online relationships, social networks and social network sites, digital civic engagement and much more.

Philip J. Salem is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Texas State University. He has been researching and writing about human communication technology for over 40 years. His publications also include work on organizational communication, interpersonal communication, research methods, and communication theory. His other recent work relates complexity theory to human communication and to communication and organizational change. He was a Fulbright scholar, and he has presented his research, taught, and consulted around the world. Regional, national, and international communication associations have honored his work.