Why mass media were an aberration in human history

This article writed at the Guardian post, talks about a book writed by Tom Standage, called “Writing on the Wall”. The books talks about how the social media as always exist, since ancient times where the people tend to communicate each other’s by simple interactions or wall post like the Pompeii’s graffiti. The idea behind this book is that the mass media (in opposition to the social media) is an aberration in the human history, only possible by the industrial revolution, the capital and the the monopoly of means of production. We usually see the mass media as the norm, as the main structure of communication, and we fell like the social media is an alternative, a way to transgress the establishment. But the author wants to invest this logic by showing us the historical evidence of social media in ancient times.  

But I think that the author fails at the point where he thinks that we have a history line and in that history line we have aberrations or dark ages, it’s like thinking in a constant develop of the human race. The evidence that the Mass media as always exist don’t implies that the mass media is the path or the norm. In our recent experience, we have faced the “new ways” , because in our context it’s obviously a revelation , where the mass media is the norm and not an aberration.