Communication has evolved
Personal communication in Canada has always been shaped by distance, technology, and trust.
For much of the country’s history, connection was slow and physical: handwritten letters carried news across provinces and oceans, while local newspapers helped communities stay stitched together. The telephone then compressed distance in a way that felt almost miraculous—suddenly, relationships could be maintained in real time, not in weeks.
The rotary telephone
The internet era changed the economics of communication. Email made written correspondence instant and searchable. Texting made communication constant and casual. Social media turned personal updates into public broadcasting, blending relationships with audiences and algorithms. Smartphones made all of it portable, creating a world where people could be reachable everywhere—and sometimes expected to be.
Now we’ve entered the age of AI: messages are drafted, translated, summarized, and increasingly personalized by machines. Communication is becoming more efficient, but also more mediated—shaped by recommendation engines, auto-complete, and synthetic voice and video. The next frontier isn’t just speed; it’s authenticity. In a country that spans time zones and cultures, the competitive advantage—personally and professionally—will be the ability to stay human, even as AI becomes the default co-author.