Friday, December 31, 2004
Keeping in touch, or not
It is tradition at the end of a year to recall those who passed away during the preceding 12 months. Among those whose name and face is not recognizable to most people was Joseph Zimmermann Jr., the inventor of the first telephone answering machine to become a commercial success (in the 1950's). A recent New York Times article notes that "...Zimmermann's invention was also a key marker in a less celebrated history -- the history of what could be called the technology of avoidance [Rob Walker, "Only Disconnect," Dec 26, 2004]. Although the original intent was to enhance our ability to communicate, people quickly discovered that it also could be used to avoid talking to someone they do not want to speak with--a luxury that previously had been affordable for only the wealthy and powerful who employed others to act as "gatekeepers."
Zimmerman's invention was the first of a string of new ways to make communication both easier and more difficult. Today, voice mail, email, hundreds of television channels, and Internet information services are at our fingertips. We have become so enamored of these innovations that we are spending more than three times (in constant dollars) the amount that we did thirty years ago when the typical family had one telephone line and television was received through a (free) over-the-air antenna [Rob Fixmer, "It Adds Up (and Up, and Up)" New York Times, April 10, 2003].
Modern communications technologies offer an undeniable example of how the future that inventors and marketers thought they were creating turned out quite differently than expected. These services do make it possible for us to connect with each other and quickly obtain information, but they also are being deliberately used as a barrier. For example, "...by punching or typing in a sequence of numbers, or by speaking to a machine that has been programmed to understand human speech, you can have access to information previously impossible to obtain without a human - the whereabouts of a package, for instance, or the balance of a bank account. What is increasingly difficult to obtain, though, is the actual human" [Katie Hafner, "Customer Service: The Hunt for a Human," New York Times, Dec 30, 2004].
In short, it seems that our society welcomes ways to contact anyone anywhere any time, while simultaneously adopting methods that limit who can easily contact us. This effect may not be as contradictory as it seems. These technologies are relatively new, and our culture is still figuring out how to assimilate and adapt to them. We are likely to be alternately thrilled and frustrated by how they are used for some time. What's more important is the lesson that "progress" isn't as predictable as we think and controlling the consequences of our "advances" isn't as easy as we'd like to think it is.
And, by the way, there is a website (what else) with corporate consumer contact phone numbers for many organizations that deliberately or otherwise omit them from their own web pages (courtesy of the U.S. Government).
Zimmerman's invention was the first of a string of new ways to make communication both easier and more difficult. Today, voice mail, email, hundreds of television channels, and Internet information services are at our fingertips. We have become so enamored of these innovations that we are spending more than three times (in constant dollars) the amount that we did thirty years ago when the typical family had one telephone line and television was received through a (free) over-the-air antenna [Rob Fixmer, "It Adds Up (and Up, and Up)" New York Times, April 10, 2003].
Modern communications technologies offer an undeniable example of how the future that inventors and marketers thought they were creating turned out quite differently than expected. These services do make it possible for us to connect with each other and quickly obtain information, but they also are being deliberately used as a barrier. For example, "...by punching or typing in a sequence of numbers, or by speaking to a machine that has been programmed to understand human speech, you can have access to information previously impossible to obtain without a human - the whereabouts of a package, for instance, or the balance of a bank account. What is increasingly difficult to obtain, though, is the actual human" [Katie Hafner, "Customer Service: The Hunt for a Human," New York Times, Dec 30, 2004].
In short, it seems that our society welcomes ways to contact anyone anywhere any time, while simultaneously adopting methods that limit who can easily contact us. This effect may not be as contradictory as it seems. These technologies are relatively new, and our culture is still figuring out how to assimilate and adapt to them. We are likely to be alternately thrilled and frustrated by how they are used for some time. What's more important is the lesson that "progress" isn't as predictable as we think and controlling the consequences of our "advances" isn't as easy as we'd like to think it is.
And, by the way, there is a website (what else) with corporate consumer contact phone numbers for many organizations that deliberately or otherwise omit them from their own web pages (courtesy of the U.S. Government).
Murph 11:55 PM