40 years of teletext: Teletext is experiencing a renaissance – that’s encouraging

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Teletext is a combination of old-fashioned television with the ancient communication technology of text. Invented exactly 50 years ago in the UK and introduced here exactly 40 years ago, the platform is enjoying a renaissance and is ahead of upstarts like Tiktok in terms of usage.

The word teletext is actually a contradiction because, according to Duden, teletext means “a system for electronically transmitting texts and displaying them on a television screen.” Text on the screen (!) is like a thousand words in a picture.

The saying goes the other way: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” That’s why in the digital age, everyone relies on (moving) images—video tutorials on YouTube instead of instruction manuals, holiday photos on Instagram instead of cards with personal words, influencers on Booktok instead of reading case studies.

But it is obvious that many people do not trust pictures and prefer to read the bare text and get an idea. This is an encouraging sign at a time when reading skills are declining.

Facebook is ultimately a further development of teletext: the image on the screen has become a face, the text has become a book. But social networks have become too thick, especially for boys, and they prefer to use thin teletext instead of Facebook – the future depends on the past, the future belongs to the past.

Source: Blick