No American Is An Island

No American is an Island
Jen Weaver
HIS204
Stefanie Wyszynski
November 7, 2011

        As long as man has been in existence, we have faced the struggle of isolation.  The English poet John Donne spoke to this struggle and the significance a single man held to the whole of society.  “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” (Quotations Book, 1624, p. 1).  When this statement was first published in 1624 one can imagine that it was much easier to feel as an island entirely to oneself.  Interaction was limited to those of similar status in close physical proximity and all forms of travel, connection and communication took substantial investments of time and resources.  Since Donne penned this quote significant technological advancements have occurred in transportation and communication, drastically removing the sense of physical and intellectual isolation of our world, and particularly, of America.

        One of the most obvious necessities in providing physical connection between individuals is transportation.  As cities grew, the necessity for mass transportation grew as well and America did not balk from this challenge.  “San Francisco developed cable cars in 1873, and by 1900, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston began their subway systems” (Bowles, 2011, section 1.6).  To visitors in major cities, these public transportation systems may appear daunting, or even disdained as modes of transportation.  However, to many of it’s residents, the public transportation system is a way of life; the difference between functional and dysfunctional living in a large city.

        Public mass transportation allows for large numbers of people to live in close proximity, while still being able to facilitate their everyday lives.  Imagine New York City without public transportation.  Even a hundred years ago this would have produced mass chaos with too many individuals flooding the streets attempting to get to their places of employment or to run errands at the same time.  Public transportation provides the means for large quantities of people to move around according to a set, pre-determined schedule and system.  Furthermore, these systems do not take up space on standard roadways, providing greater accessibility for those individuals who chose not to use public transport to facilitate their own travel.

        Further advances were made in transportation technology with the automobile in the 20th century.  According to James Flink, the automobile “increased personal mobility, brought city amenities to the countryside, decentralized urban space, sanitized the central city, and created an integrated national culture, economy and society” (Flink, 1998, p.3).  Flink argued that while many some may see the automobile and rail road as complementary, the automobile had a greater impact due to its “unparalleled flexibility” (Flink, 1998, p.3) and based on the vast number of motor vehicle drivers compared to train passengers in our country, this seems a valid argument.  The railroad, while helpful, mandates that its users conform to it.  Schedules and locations are predetermined and may not be the most convenient for its patrons.  Automobiles on the other hand offer extreme flexibility as it’s owners can use it at their whim and leisure, traveling anywhere the roads will allow and facilitating their own transportation rather than depending on an external system to do it for them.

        While public transportation and motor vehicles held substantial gains for the connectivity of American society, it is the airplane that has removed our physical isolation from the rest of the globe.  If you asked an American in 1900 to tell you about his country, “he would say that it was an isolated place, separated from the rest of the world by two great oceans” (Bowles, 2011, chapter 2).  The invention of the airplane brought about a practical means of physically connecting with other countries and continents, which for many Americans meant the expansion of businesses, leisure activities and renewed connections to extended families and heritage.  One difference between America and many countries in Europe is the distance from one country to the next.  While a few hours on a train can get you from the UK to France, one could travel four times as long and still be within the borders of the United States.  Airplanes however presented the opportunity for travelers to visit other countries with a reasonable cost and amount of  travel time.

    When unable to communicate in person, there are many technological advancements which have made it possible to remain connected virtually, in fact, much of our communication today is based on the use of computers and related technology.  While cell phones, text messaging, social networking and email are commonplace for American citizens today, they were not always.  The first computer was named ENIAC “Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer” and was developed in 1944 to break enemy codes during World War II (Ho, 2011, p. 1).  The first computer network was launched by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1969, a miniature network of four computers which laid the foundation for the  birth of the “Internet” in 1983 with some 200 computers networked together (Ho, 2011, p. 1).  According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2009 Current Population Survey, 68.7% of American households now report having internet use at home, 63.5% of which use a Broadband connection (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009, p. 1).  The direct access our citizens have to computers and to the internet has changed the way we communicate.  Rather than sending letters by “snail-mail”, many individuals choose to communicate more rapidly by sending email messages which can be responded to within minutes of receipt.  People can share information online through blogs, forums and social networking sites.  Whereas a loved one once could take the time and resources to take a sole photograph and mail it to their family members to share around, we can now upload hundreds of pictures to share with immediate access via online links or photo albums on networking profile pages.

    Some may argue that technological changes in communication have actually hindered communication in our society.  Krug is one such individual as he argues that “communication technologies cannot create communities but only point toward their impending extinction through the duplicitous promise of creating them” (Krug, 2005, p. 27).  One fault with this argument is that it supposes the use of the internet is “socially distinct” rather than web-based communication as one aspect of daily life.  Gershon, Gray and Senft share an alternative perspective and shed light on the “transition from taking the Internet to be virtual to seeing the Internet as a collection of channels of communication” as a part of an active reality (Gershon, Gray and Senft, 2011, p. 997).  When viewed in this light, computers and the internet are seen to enhance our connectivity to each other when used responsibly as one means of interaction.

    One cannot help but wonder what John Donne would think of our society today.  As society has evolved, so has the struggle against isolation.  While new battles may have been created in our advances, the gain has been much greater than the potential for loss.  America was once an isolated country, set apart on a separate continent, detached from its members by distance and time delays.  Yet now, through achievements in transportation and communication technology its people experience greater connection, not as individual islands unto themselves but as a part of the main.


Resources

Bowles, M. (2011).  A history of the United States since 1865.  San Diego, CA:
     Bridgepoint Education.

Flink, J. J. (1998). The automobile age. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Gershon, I., Gray, M., & Senft, T.. (2011). On the Internet, Everyone Knows You're
     a Dog. A Review Essay. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 53(4),
     997-1007.  Retrieved from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2475331351).

Ho, O.. (2011, March). How Technology Transformed Talking. New Moon
     Girls, 18(4), 24-25. Retrieved from Research Library. (Document ID:
     2306452031).

Krug, Gary J. (2005). Communication, Technology and Cultural Change.
     Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/docDetail.action?
     docID=10080979&p00=communication%20technology%20cultural%20change

Quotations Book. (2011). Retrieved from http://quotationsbook.com/quote/44607/

U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, October 2009. (2009).
     Retrieved from http:// www.census.gov/hhes/computer/publications/2009.html