# Technological developments or non-directional social movements with great impact?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technological-developments-or-non-directional-social-movements-with-great-impact/778992>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 4, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technological-developments-or-non-directional-social-movements-with-great-impact/778992 "2017-02-04T17:24:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technological-developments-or-non-directional-social-movements-with-great-impact/778992/1 "2017-02-04T17:24:10Z")

</div>

Some discussions on the polarization of politics are pointing at least the little finger at changes in media and the arrival of social media. But that’s not a GQ thing. My question is about history. How did the world change with the arrival of the printing press? The first newspapers? The phone? Any political and/or social upheaval that can be linked to these and other otherwise neutral changes in how human interaction functions?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/technological-developments-or-non-directional-social-movements-with-great-impact/778992/2 "2017-02-04T20:41:14Z")

</div>

The printing press was definitely a factor in the Reformation. There even a wikipage on it: [Propaganda during the Reformation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_during_the_Reformation)