And now we have applications like TaskRabbit, where you can hire someone random online to complete almost any task or errand you need done. It can be same-day or you can be scheduled way in advance. I've been seeing this a lot recently with influencers in LA, and it's crazy to see how people used to have to wait days just to receive a message.

When I think about telegrams and their speech, I feel like I would have the same trouble reading some of the abbreviated messages the same way they'd have trouble reading one full of our modern slang. However, they'd have a lot more trouble than I would in the long run. It kind of makes me laugh thinking about someone back then trying to make sense of any of it, or thinking it was more serious than what is actually written.

Once again, it crazy to see how the telegraph paved the way for so many innovations, and in this case, traditions. I never even thought to think of telegraphy when it came to holiday cards because of how uniform it became in society. I remember being so excited to see the holiday cards every Christmas from friends and family. People still create the craziest holiday cards, but now they send them out digitally instead of mailing them.

This has developed even more now with online consultations and appointments. You can still meet face to face through a computer screen, which is something I never knew would actually happen. That was an idea I had up until COVID-19, but then it became such a regular thing that people still opt for. However, I have come to find it convenient because I'm able to meet with doctor back home or request renewals on medications without even having a consultation!

I feel like keeping up is even more important nowadays due to social media. Because majority of people are now constantly on their phones, there almost seems to be no excuse to miss out on important world updates. People used to have to wait for a news reports or hear it through word of mouth, and it's crazy to me that that time isn't so far in the past. I think it's just another example of the rampant pace at which communication has continued to developed since the invention of telegraphy.

Overall, a lot changed about the ways in which I view telegraph boys. The representation of telegraph boys in media in which I grew up understanding was just paper boys. The boys who would be running through the streets or showing up at big events in the city trying to sell as many newspapers as possible. Telegraph boys had such an impact on communication, and I feel like because of their age, their roles haven't been taken as seriously. I know that in the kind of media I consume or history lessons I've learned, telegraphs boys don't hold as big of an importance as the inventors did, and I feel like they should be acknowledged more.

I liked that Linn also mentions the benefits that come with the job. It's so easy to read these responsibilities and rules that telegraph boys had to follow and not see any silver lining that could come from it. But not every aspect of this job was bad because they learned discipline, made money, and had benefits in health as a result. I didn't really take into account how the pay may have benefitted these boys at the time either.

I bet this gave a lot of the boys more discipline in their lives than they would have had not being a telegraph boy. I think training/trade schools have been so beneficial because not everyone wants to and or is ready for college. In high school, a bunch of my friends who didn't accelerate in the average educational space would go to the Vocational-technical program, and it made such a difference! They went on to be prepared for nursing school and wielding programs that they now thrive in. Like it says later on, some of these men went to work at the Western Union offices as managers and superintendents, so I found it an interesting part of this reading.

Like I said before, my knowledge of telegraph boys was very limited, and I didn't really understand all that went into the position. This is especially including how far they had to travel around the city. I never took into account all of the stairs and challenges they faced every day. I get tired walking from class to class and try to walk at least 5,000 steps daily, so I cannot imagine walking around more than nineteen miles a day!

I have some confusion as this is my first time reading through this. When they were sent to deliver these telegraphs in distant places, did they still use younger telegraph boys? I tried looking up if they used boys who were older than 18 to deliver farther distances, but I couldn't really find a clear answer. My general understanding is that they are usually under the age of 18, so I'm wondering if back then that they had less regard for age and they still sent out young boys to travel? That would lead into a whole other level of questioning of how they got around, travel route, how far these "distant places" actually were, etc. I know I'm still early on in the reading and may have my questions answered, but this intrigued me. The reading already started changing my perspective on all the responsibilities these young boys actually had, and this would only further that.

Being an MSP student, I've already been able to see how the business of media, film, and TV are constantly changing. For instance, WGA and SAG-AFTRA are on strike, and one of the reasons being that companies haven't adapted to the boom of streaming services. Streaming is way different than average television, like an increase of viewers and how many times it is replayed by an audience. They are facing an important period of reconstruction and adjusting to somehow figure out a new way of paying their writers and actors.

More recently, we've seen more and more people using one piece of evidence to create a full argument. Not only does this make them appear underprepared, but it's also limiting their own perspective of life. One piece of evidence can not tell a whole story from beginning to end. There are events that build up a situation, factors that contributed to the event, and other factors that led to a certain outcome. Using the mindset of "one and done" no longer holds up because misinformation is harmful for the easily influenced society we live in. If we can't use facts and accurate history to support an argument, we erase and skew events of the past that could benefit the future later on. Exploring different kinds of evidence keeps the gateway open for not only education, but preserving history.

I think history has a bigger repeating affect on people than they may realize. The past, no matter how long ago, has given people greatest role models and also examples of how they don't want to live their own lives. Like I stated before, it gives us a chance to not make the same mistakes those before us did. However, who is a role model and who is a bad example will vary on the person. Not everyone thinks and acts the same way, which has been shown for thousands of years. It's interesting to see how the present can be so different in a million different ways, but digging deeper, people continue to be places in similar situations and dilemmas where they have to choose a "right or wrong" choice based on what they see is fit.

I think one of the big examples of this is the behavior of young people today due to unlimited access to the internet. We can make connections between children/young adults today vs. the 80s/90s. Back then, there was no technology like we have access to now. People had more private and reserved lives, and a lot of relationships were developed in person. Now, we have this online world where people can broadcast any aspect of their life to millions of online users within minutes. People can maintain relationships with people all over the world, not even having to meet all of them face to face. Technology will only continue to advance, so will the ways of publicly displaying one's life. I'm interested to see how even these changes will progress, even only a couple of years from now can be completely different.

I used to be a person who didn't see the importance of looking into the past. History was never my strong suit, and I just wanted to know more about the now/future. However, my opinion has changed since; I fully believe that in order to understand the future, you need to understand the history of how we got to where we are. I know it was mentioned in one of the lectures that the past is important to understand the future because it displays possible reoccurring trends and things to avoid that past generations weren't able to (And I think that's so cool!).