We (as in human race), metaphorically could be - right now - in the middle of a city like NY, looking for someone sending signals with smoke, and being surround

We (as in human race), metaphorically could be - right now - in the middle of a city like NY, looking for someone sending signals with smoke, and being surrounded by multiple modern communication systems, everywhere around us. Maybe we have always been surrounded by aliens communications and we didn't notice it, like what happened with electricity, it was all around humanity, all the time humans existed, and it was discovery just recently.