A Brief History of Communication

Communication is as old as humans, but it hasn’t always been expressed in the forms familiar to us today, with clear alphabetic and grammar systems.

If one of our ancient ancestors spawned to live in the modern day, we would need a lot of time to understand them if they were to, for example, ask us for some water.

Obviously, we have come a long way since incoherent yelling meant “Hey, my jolly fellow, could I have a glass of water, please?”.

Bearing all this in mind, we would like to tell a story about what happened along the way, and how that tremendous journey impacted our communication habits nowadays.

But, no worries, this won’t be a dull story about speech and symbols.

It is a story about us, humans, and the tremendous things we can achieve if our capacities are aimed in the right direction.

Let’s waste no more time and dive into the cravings on the walls — and much more!

Table of Contents

Origin of speech: Around 100,000 BCE

Communication is as old as the first ape-like creatures who could habitually walk on two legs (our ancestors) — 5 to 7 million years.

At first, communication consisted of different types of non-verbal communication such as gestures, non-verbal expressions, and body language.

It seems our ancestors functioned pretty well like that — without any speech system — since they went millions of years before they developed the ability to vocalize and produce sounds, around 100,000 BCE.

And by vocalization, we don’t mean some uniform system of words that denote all the things we see or imagine.

On the contrary, the first speech system consisted of simple sounds (followed by non-verbal gestures) used to denote some things humans considered important back then.

Every painting and craving tells a story

Since the language system our distant ancestors used wasn’t so suitable for long explanations and oral lore, they had to find different ways to tell their stories.

Drawing seems to have been the perfect solution.

By drawing, our distant ancestors could depict in detail situations from their everyday lives and leave a trace to future generations — so they know what to be wary of or what to do in particular situations.

Cave paintings proved to be the most long-lived form of communication since many of them are still standing on cave walls all over the world — the oldest one that we know of is 51,200 years old.

However, cave paintings weren’t the only type of drawings our ancestors practiced.

A few thousand years after cave paintings, our ancestors started to incise and carve pictures into rocks.

Gradually, throughout thousands of years, civilizations worldwide started to develop their own systems of symbols and characters that denoted objects or feelings.

That paved the way for the development of more advanced language and communication systems that appeared around 3,500 BCE.

These carvings were a fundamental communication tool for many centuries. Some tribes even used them until the 19th and 20th centuries before their communication systems evolved thanks to their contact with the rest of modern civilization.

Tracing the oldest language: Around the 4th century BCE…or not?

Once humans mastered non-verbal and oral communication (as well as drawings and carvings), it was time to evolve further.

However, we would have to wait a few thousand years for the first official language and writing systems to appear.

Of course, there are ongoing debates about which system appeared first.

According to the majority of historians and researchers, the first writing system was Sumerian, although research also suggests that people in Egypt and the Indus Valley developed their own writing systems almost simultaneously.

Sumerians used a cuneiform script that consisted of small symbols and characters that denoted words. Clay tablets that have been found and preserved witness how well-developed the Sumerian language was at that time.

It allowed Sumerians to develop various aspects of their lives, including invoicing and transactions, for example.

However, the oldest complete sentence scientists found wasn’t written in Sumerian. It was actually found in Egypt, and it was written in Egyptian hieroglyphs around the same time when famous Sumerian clay tablets were being created.

Therefore, the debate is still open, especially considering that many older languages from the Afroasiatic family have become extinct over time.

Game changer — the printing revolution

Let’s jump in time a little bit. Centuries have passed since the first languages and written systems appeared.

Many of them appeared and vanished pretty quickly, but a lot more survived and further evolved — for example, Arabic and Hebrew, which are the oldest existing languages, according to many scientists.

However, we probably wouldn’t know any of that or have any information about the oldest languages and manuscripts if there hadn’t been an invention that changed the world — the printing press.

We all like writing letters from time to time, don’t we? But, imagine if you had to write everything — even books — by hand.

It would get a bit tiring, right?

Luckily, thanks to the printing press, you don’t have to.

The first movable typing machine was invented in China in the 11th century and developed further, in the following few centuries by the Chinese and Korean people.

It enabled easier production of books and letters, which led to better communication and education.

All these inventions in the field of printing prepared the terrain for the invention of the printing press.

The printing press, invented by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg in 1440, marked the beginning of the Printing Revolution.

Eventually, the Printing Revolution led to advancements in science, larger production of now world-famous literature, and the invention of the first printed newspapers in the 17th century. Knowledge became way more accessible.

Thanks to printing, people were able to:

Communicate their messages across the world,
Share ideas across borders, and even
Invite large numbers of people to certain occasions.

And the invention of printing was just the beginning of the great things humankind would do in the years to come.

A missed phone call from Alexander Graham Bell

March 7th, 1876, was seemingly a day just like any other.

However, something remarkable happened in the US Patent and Trademark Office.

A guy called Alexander Graham Bell claimed that he invented a device called a telephone that allowed him to transmit his voice and hear it through another device.

A lot of eyebrows were raised, but it all ended in amazement and a patent was granted to Mr. Bell.

Of course, our story is a rather simplified depiction of actual events, since Bell worked on telephone communication for quite a few years before applying for the patent, and people knew that something interesting would soon emerge.

But, 1876 was indeed the year when the telephone was officially invented!

In the years to come, many rich families have equipped their homes with telephones, and after a few decades, the telephone became a necessity all over the world.

It made communication between people a lot easier and became the foundation for other means of remote interaction between people.

The 20th Century — The beginning of modern communication apps

People relied on printed reading materials for centuries.

However, in the 20th century, along with World War I and II, as well as the Cold War (and all the atrocities they brought to humankind), came rapid technological changes and advancements.

The rivalry between superpowers enabled us to see a man on the moon, satellites in space, and the appearance of the ideas and technologies that gave rise to the Internet.

Once the Internet appeared, in 1983, communication between people became much easier, as telephone calls were no longer the only way to connect with people around the world.

Two years later, a multifunctional online service was created and connected the users of desktop computers at that time.

That connection between computers was further improved, and in the 90s, an Internet similar to the one we have today emerged.

At its core, the connection between computers was very similar to the contemporary team communication apps because it had:

Public chat rooms (nowadays channels),
Private chat rooms (nowadays direct messages), and
File-sharing options.

A few decades later, at the end of the 20th century, the first social networks appeared and took the world by storm, so it was just a matter of time before some messaging apps designed specifically for business communication would appear.

The 2010s — The era of using business messaging apps

By the 2010s, team and (partly) business messaging apps had already been available on the market for a few years.

Still, they were lacking some vital features — at least according to those who used them.

For example, although there were apps that had some sophisticated features such as screen-sharing in 2009, the chats and interface in general weren’t organized in a way that suited the users who needed them for work.

Hence, 2010 saw the birth of the first instant messaging app intended solely for businesses.

It had a plethora of features users needed back then (and still do), such as:

Chat rooms (channels),
1-on-1 messaging,
File storage,
Voice calls,
Searchable chat history,
Video calls,
Screen sharing, and many other features.

And, this was just the beginning.

From 2010 onwards, business messaging apps have continued to develop, and they became a vital part of the business world and a crucial means of communication.

What made business communication apps so popular?

Around 10 years ago, many businesses underwent a digital transformation process that required them to take their “offices” online.

A task that seemed impossible just a few decades ago, was made attainable thanks to contemporary business messaging apps that allow us to connect and communicate with colleagues and customers online.

Being online on apps like Pumble is the closest we can get to the feeling of being in the office and communicating in real time.

Give Pumble a try

So, communication apps allow us to connect with others remotely — something that, no doubt, contributed to their popularity.

However, it is doubtful if business messaging apps would be so popular if not for how the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the way we all work.

During and after the pandemic many companies introduced remote or hybrid work policies that allowed employees to work from home.

Hence, the popularity (and use) of communication apps soared, as everyone needed a solution that would allow them to stay in touch with their teams and maintain pre-pandemic levels of productivity.

What Does the Future Hold for Communication?

Communication is constantly evolving, so it is hard to say with 100% certainty what the future holds.

Given that communication apps have become established in our lives, living and working without at least one such tool seems unlikely.

But, as we’ve seen before, the needs of the average Joe change with time, and communication apps will need to respond to that.

We’ve seen it before — even well-known brands have had to transform their apps or build new ones to suit the new or existing needs of the modern workforce.

Aside from following the trends, we can also expect large instant messaging companies to target the collaboration tools market and come up with their own business-oriented communication tools.

Although there are a few well-established and popular professional communication apps, it is just a matter of time before some new apps take their crown and become even more popular.

Another thing that will have a great impact on the world of communication is AI.

AI can facilitate communication and collaboration and streamline some processes, but those benefits don’t come cheap. So, we’ll probably see subscription costs rise — yes, modern communication might come with a price.

Some might find the prices too steep while others might find them worth it — and the decisions of both groups of users will leave their mark on the roadmap of communication development.

No matter which way the pendulum swings, there’s no doubt that the market of messaging apps, as contemporary communication weapons, will continue to grow — so, we are sure that everybody will find something that suits them well in the future.

Pumble — the business messaging gem that incorporates all communication attainments

One of the apps that ambitiously strives to climb to the very top of the business messaging app market is Pumble.

Thanks to its all-encompassing and affordable pricing plans, Pumble is slowly but surely becoming one of the most popular solutions for businesses.

Always one to build from the bottom up, Pumble first ensured that its users had access to all the rudimentary features, before enabling sophisticated functionalities.

So, Pumble offers stellar features, such as channels and DMs, which enable smooth communication between colleagues and customers (thanks to the guest access feature) and thread communication, which keeps all conversations structured and clear.

But, most importantly, Pumble also offers a suite of advanced features — those that every professional would be lost without:

Video conferencing,
Audio calls (huge thanks to Mr. Bell for the patent), and
Screen sharing.

Aside from that, Pumble also allows you to share files with your coworkers and access all previously shared information and files across the entire workspace — thanks to unlimited message history.

They say you should learn history, or you’ll be doomed to repeat it.

Here at Pumble, we take that seriously, which is why we always strive to be better. Continuous improvement of our app is our constant goal — as evident in our Pumble roadmap.

If you liked what you have seen above, you can try Pumble for free today — just sign up for your free account!

And, if you are interested in our other products you can try the CAKE.com Bundle which includes our time-tracking app Clockify and our project management tool Plaky!

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