The Telephone: A Technological Mixed Blessing

While in Graduate School, I took a course in Social Policy. The main point of the entire course was that every decision, ultimately, has both anticipated and unanticipated consequences. It is the same way with every invention and technological innovation. Here are six technological innovations which have had some of their intentional and anticipated consequences but have also proven, over time, to have brought unanticipated negative consequences along with them.

The Telephone

In the 1870's, inventors named Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray independently and nearly concurrently developed the prototype of what would become the modern telephone. Bell beat Gray to the U.S. Patent Office and the rest is history and the namesake of what people would later refer to as "Ma Bell." The history of the telephone and the innovations that punctuate its development make a fine model for tracking the advancement of any new invention.

Prior to the telephone, electronic communication was limited to wireless radio, developed around the turn of the century, which enabled those with sophisticated equipment to communicate but was used, primarily as it is today, for one-way broadcasting. Telegraph was still being used to electronically convey messages between one station and another but it was never regarded as a means of home-based personal communication.

Then came the telephone. Today, the telephone has become a ubiquitous appliance that allows us to initiate a conversation or leave a message with pretty much anyone at any time. Whether wired, portable of cellular, most children know how to use them and they are quite wonderful in achieving Bell's goal - To allow people to speak with each other over distances.

While the device has certainly increased our ability to be in touch with one another it has also made many people more available to the whims and needs of others than they would really like to be. Unless you have blocked a specific number or turned your ringer off, anyone can call you at their convenience, not necessarily at yours. IN this way, the telephone can become an intrusive invasion.

A sales or spam call is little like an unwanted salesperson knocking on your door. Admittedly, with the addition of Caller ID, it is easier to identify and ignore the intrusion if one chooses to do so.

It is important to remember that while available nearly everywhere at any time, the telephone does absolutely nothing to change or improve the quality of a person's communication nor does it assure that good, intended communication occurs between two people.

There is another side to the coin worth being aware of. The easy and relatively inexpensive availability of telephones has probably played a role in reducing both the need for and frequency of both face-to-face conversations and of written communications. Saying something to a person over the phone is a little like hitting the "Send" button for an e-mail. Once it is said, it is out there. By contrast, when a communication is written, it tends to be a bit more thought through and deliberately composed.

There is the issue of a developed dependency. Some people do not leave home without a cell phone in their pocket or purse. The feeling of being always available and always able to access who we need when we need them is reinforced by the telephone. The telephone is a device which, in this way, rewards impulsivity. I doubt that either Mrs. Bell or Gray gave that one a thought when the device was first imagined, developed and built.

There is rarely gain without loss. I am not a devout Luddite, but a progressive one.

I use the telephone daily as do most people, but something(s) may have gotten lost in the shuffle leading to the ready and nearly immediate ability to communicate. It is worth a thought.