Telephone and telegraph?

Question

Which one made a greater impact on human's life? The telephone or the telegraph?

Answer 1

Telegraph, for sure. Morse's first message was right on --"What hath God wrought". Allowed almost instant communications across and between continents. From observation balloons. Synchronized the clocks for the railroads. Was the first binary signaling system (the key is either up or down -- 0 or 1) and used data compression (common letters like E got shorter characters, uncommon letters like X got longer ones. The telephone was an extension that put it in "everyman's" hands.

Maybe a push here, but the impact of telegraphy was quick and enormous.

Answer 2

as to quality of life, it was the telephone.

the telegraph was 99% used for commercial communications. its very "invention" was to replace the semaphore for sending stock markets closing quotes. it was used only by industries who could afford the cost of speedy news ie newspapers, military, railroads, stock investors... for most housholds, the only telegram ever received would be a death notice, nothing else warranted the cost per word charge. it was never a part of daily life.

the telephone really was instantaneous, most telegrams took a day for delivery, and included instant feedback, a return reaction from the other party. ordinary people, using common speach, could use without technical assistance. phone lines were run to ordinary homes, not just railroad stations or select businesses.

hard to imagine every day life with out the telephone, or its replacement the cell phone. do you need a telegraph or a teletype (could you even find a station?), although text messaging is a throwback to that era, most people could do without that function.

Answer 3

telephone if u ask.....