From the invention of paper by the Chinese in 105, people have been able to easily record their thoughts and the events that took  place around them. For centuries man struggled with the manual task of writing by hand, until 1450 when the first printing press was developed in Germany.

From that point onwards, it became possible to mass-produce the written word which had enormous consequences for religious texts, works of art and the dissemination of both local news and news from around the world. It became affordable for the average person to gain access to written material.  Assuming, of course, that they could read.