The first telecommunication networks consolidated the global dominance of the great European powers.

In a 1901 article titled ‘The Influence of Undersea Cables on Military and Naval Supremacy’, a member of the American military warned of British control of 4/5 of the global cables which were “woven like a spider’s web” in which all other nations were caught.

The second half of the 19^th century was the era of colonialism. Telecommunications not only contributed to European expansion and colonial control but were also developing rapidly due to competition between the major European countries.

Advertising for telephony started in America in an organised fashion in the late 19^th - early 20^th centuries and highlighted the issue of time compared to the other means of communication. An advertisement from Bell Telephone Co. reads: “The post office is fast, the telegraph is faster, but the telephone is instantaneous”.

In the 1930s, phone companies acknowledged that advertising had to focus on highlighting interpersonal relationships and social life. The telephone is no longer a luxury or a useful tool for a business, it is a social necessity: “You are your voice.” The phone is portrayed as an extension of being sociable.

In Greece, the first telephone advertisements came with the founding of AETE in the 1930s. The telephone had very low penetration in the Greek market and that is why its importance for businesses and housewives was underlined. Happy women were depicted talking on earpieces: “With their telephone, they have the doctor, the pharmacist, the grocery store, the fire department, and everything else they need near them at all times.”

The prevailing slogan was: “The telephone is necessary.”

Telecommunications transformed social relationships and affected the most personal aspects of human communication.

Although realisation of the social importance of telephony took time, starting in the 1920s and 1930s the telephone became the main means of communication for friends, families and partners.

Women in particular played an important role in the spread of the telephone. In 1914, a photograph was published in an issue of Literary Digest depicting a woman with a telephone tied to her head, so that she could speak while sitting at her typewriter. The promotion of talking on the telephone for long periods of time as something women were prone to do, reflects stereotypes about women’s “natural” tendencies, while in reality it highlights their active role in creating interpersonal networks.

The world of business, trade & the stock exchange was connected to the telecommunications network from the very beginning. In the 19th century, 90% of telegrams concerned business affairs.

Telecommunications connected remote markets, allowed entrepreneurs to make multiple transactions in a day, and put merchants in direct contact with producers.

In some countries, such as the USA and Great Britain, the telegraph and telephony were developed thanks to private entrepreneurial activity, such as that Graham Bell’s Bell Company, in contrast to other countries where telephony and telegraphy were launched by the state in the form of a monopoly.

War has always been a factor in the evolution of telecommunications. During the era of industrial warfare, the need for faster and safer communication with the front, led technology to the invention of advanced methods of conveying messages.

During World War II, wireless communication advanced by leaps and bounds. The wireless receiver became an integral part of battle.

The end of WWII found Greece’s telecommunication system in ruins. 80% of the telegraph network had been destroyed, while almost all the telephone exchanges in Athens had been rendered useless. Of the 32,643 subscribers in Athens in October 1944, only 6,000 subscribers were left in January 1945.

With the founding of OTE in 1949, women took on new roles in telecommunications. In 1957 they started working as operators in the new Telex service. With this service, subscribers were connected to the OTE network and could conduct direct telegraphic message exchanges with each other.

In 1964, they took up posts at the OTE Computerisation Centre, providing computerisation services using computation machines.

In the 1970s, telephone operators went on strike for the first time, demanding equal pay between the two genders. Women in telecommunications were symbolically placed on the front line of the fight for women’s liberation.

The videophone was first presented at the 1964 New York World Fair by AT&T. An innovation of the era, it allowed people speaking to someone to be able to see them at the same time.

The Japanese-made NEC videophone was manufactured in 1970 and operated by OTE experimentally.

It had an integrated monitor, TV, and camera. In combination with a simple telephone device, it made it possible to make video calls and video conference calls.

The videophone was introduced to the market in 1994. It was not commercially appealing, as it was quite expensive (it cost 800,000 drachmas), and it quickly took a back seat due to the spread of computers and the internet.

According to Peter Nash, head of British Telecom, “If the invention of the telephone was a milestone for human communication, the videophone is the pathway to the global village (1986)

The Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) was founded in the USA in 1958. During the Cold War, scientists looked into how telecommunications could survive ballistic missiles.

In 1969, Vint Cerf, Stephen Crocker and Robert Kahn designed ARPAnet on a paper napkin; this was a decentralised computer network that connected four US universities.

In 1971, Ray Tomlinson used the @ symbol to send the first e-mail. There were 23 computers connected to ARPAnet at the time.

On 6 August 1991, the World Wide Web was made available to the public by the CERN international research centre.

In 2004 we went from one-way communication to the interactive experience and social networking. Social media and web communities (wikis, video sharing, etc.) were created with Web 2.0.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) was piloted in Greece in 1994.

In 1996, OTENET started operating.

In 2016, the internet’s penetration in Greece’s urban and semi-urban centres reached 90%.

In 2024, 5.1 billion users communicate on the internet.

The spread of the internet was a great boost to video game development. Video games are an extremely interactive medium that transfer players to virtual reality environments where digital identities are created. Video games are like an autonomous universe with its own rules, morals, culture, tribes, and members.

The history of gaming dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, when engineers started creating simple games and simulations as part of their research to see how far computer capabilities could go.

From arcade games in the 80s and gaming platforms in the 90s, to the online multiplayer games of the early 21^st century, gaming has now taken on a key role in socialising and networking for young people.

In 2020, the global video game market generated $159 billion in revenues, 3 times more than the music industry and 4 times more than the film industry.

In 2023, it is estimated that there were 3.22 billion active gamers worldwide, while 45% of households in Greece have at least one video game console.