He missed at least one: the telephone! People had mixed feelings about this strangely intrusive object in their homes.
“… Most people saw telephoning as accelerating social life, which is another way of saying that telephoning broke isolation and augmented social contacts. A minority felt that telephones served this function too well. These people complained about too much gossip, about unwanted calls, or, as did some family patriarchs, about wives and children chatting too much. Most probably sensed that the telephone bell, besides disrupting their activities, could also bring bad news or bothersome requests. Yet only a few seemed to live in a heightened state of alertness, ears cocked for the telephone’s ring – no more, perhaps, than sat anxiously alert for a knock on the door. Some Americans not only disliked talking on the telephone but also found having it around disturbing, but they were apparently a small minority. Perhaps a few of the oldest felt anxious around the telephone, but most people … seemed to feel comfortable or even joyful around it. … Sociologist Sidney Aronson may have captured the feelings of most Americans when he suggested that having the telephone led, in net, to a ‘reduction of loneliness and anxiety, and increased feeling of psychological and even physical security’.” (Fischer, 1992, p. 247)
My own kids were coming of age as the cell phone was becoming popular, and we had reservations, too: “what do you even need a cell phone for?” and “watch out, bad people will get your phone number and say terrible things”. Nothing bad happened after all.
So I’ve learned my lesson. When the direct brain implants become available, and my grandkids (if I have any) start whining for the gadgets, I’m not going to lecture them on the dangers of imbedding electrodes in your skull. No, sir, I’ll just whisper “Don’t tell your mom” and whisk them off to the local clinic for the top-of-the-line Apple NeuroMesh with the MicroRetinal Interface.
I’m going to disagree with the comic on this one. I was at a friend’s place. His 12-year old daughter is in the rec room downstairs with four of her friends. But do I hear the peals of laughter and chattering that one might expect from a group of five 12-year olds? No, just dead silence. I peer inside and there they are, all texting on their phones…to each other.
What. The Actual. Fuck.
Some of us still do.
Well, not that “mixed” actually…
# Vatican Black Ops
When I was younger, me and my friends would write physical notes back and forth. Usually at school, but in other situations as well (such as slumber parties). Same thing.
You have a group of kids in your home being quiet. I myself would think that would be a blessing, but then I don’t have kids and am averse to noise, so YMMV.
And probably to friends who couldn’t be there – and thus, being more inclusive and social.
Also, I frequently see groups of children and young adults on their phones, but “dead silence” is not a way I’d generally describe their noise level. They usually are busy talking to each other, while at the same time writing to others – often they will share what other people wrote to them to the rest of the in-person group.
It’s just a step in the eventual removal of burdensome, inefficient spoken communication to a more easily understood text form. Once those direct brain implants are around, I assume (read: hope) that is how all communication will be done, and our stupid vocal cords can wither away and I have some opinions on this, okay?
Interesting that it always about being social the proper way. What if, technology or not, I just want to be left the fuck alone? Is that really such a big deal?
“Oh, we’ve never had a telephone at Drearcliff House, they’re so noisy.” – Bruce Alastair to Sherlock Holmes in The House of Fear.
I’m with Bruce Alastair.
Yea, what #6 said!
I know it’s not easy, but how people (kids, teens, adults, ….) communicate should be their thing; no need to try to impose a certain way or style. #1 seems not to get that.
(also true for other stuff)
to share one initial aversion to cell phones (even being a techno-nerd and early adopter of new gadgets):
I remember many cautions about over reliance on cell phone as THE emergency rescue device. While useful in urban and suburban areas with coverage, many would use it to rescue them when lost on a wilderness hike; relying on it to rescue them when lost due to being mapless, compassless, (long before gps), being otherwise totally unprepared for the rigors of hiking, depending solely on that little gadget as their last resort button.
–
second, was my skepticism of putting camera into a cell phone for sharing pix instantly. EE me said, ‘too much bandwidth will be used up for such trivial usage. no. thank. you.”
While, now I know I was totally luddite to object. I myself tend to pop pix to friends by smartphone frequently. [slapping my own wrist]
#5:
Yeah, fuck singing, you know.
Not.
Because before the advent of mobiles, everybody was totally able and educated in those matters!
Sorry, I’m not old enough for modernity hatin’ and I will hopefully never be. There’s just one thing I will advice people to do: write your phone numbers into a physical paper directory. Because fuck it when you lose access to the one on your phone…
I give thanks to the FSM and the then-Chairman of Sony for the Walkman because it killed that horrible boombox fad. Go ahead and blow out your eardrums with too loud music, but please leave my ears out of it.
One of my favourite Douglas Adams quotes.
I am now of a age where new stuff is now against the natural order of things, but I try my best.
Texting would also be a way to communicate in a group if one or more of the members were hearing impaired and others did not know sign language.
Or maybe they just didn’t want the grownups to hear their conversation.
re @11
agreed. to clarify: yes before mobiles, most hikers (I knew) were quite cautious, and tried to be over prepared; carrying paper contour maps and compasses (and canteen and stick etc). Probably greatly reducing the number casual visitors due to fear of getting lost.
The cautions I spoke of were offered largely as reassurance to continue reliance on simple tools rather than abandon simple tools for techno-gadgets. And also, that even with all the mobile’s capabilities, coverage most likely doesn’t exist in the wild so it becomes a virtual brick. And even when coverage exists. dependence on it as rescue-device could be very expensive to implement, and the rescued could be charged for the expense of rescue (currently the SOP in White Mtns Nat Park).
@Gilliel #11
You only have one phone? You don’t have your contacts stored elsewhere digitally? Your entire life hasn’t yet been uploaded to the cloud!?! Luddite! (actually I also tend to write numbers and notes and dates and times on bits of dead biomass. For grocery shopping lists I us living biomass – my hand – much more practical.)
I have said in the past that direct machine-human interfaces would be interesting, and that I would be the first in line to get one. But now I am a lot more careful – not because I dread the social or personal disruption, but because the security implications are a huge concern. The state of computer security is dire at the moment: nothing is secure. Nothing.
We have a peek at the future with the so-called “Internet of Things”, where chinese hackers can take control of your heating system and hold it hostage. Imagine if it’s your brain they do the same thing to.
Coleslaw @ 14:
I’d put money on that one. Adults key into whispers or observed note passing, and get all suspicious. Texting is a good way to keep things private.
I just got my first smartphone a week ago. I’ve never been an early-adopter, and I’ve been putting this step off for a while, largely because the tech hadn’t matured yet. Also because I used to live in the sticks, out of cell coverage. But now, I have a nearly indestructible mini-computer in my pocket, that connects wirelessly to my ear, so I hardly need to handle it for most functions. It has a better camera on it than my camera-only device. James Tiberius Kirk would sell his own mother to get his hands on this thing. Why is this supposed to be a problem?
Brain implants mean brain advertisements. Probably at inopportune moments, such as while driving, crossing the street, or performing surgery.
Sorry, I’m going to tell them to wait until version 2.0. That’s one technology where you really want them to get the bugs worked out before you adopt.
Sure, the Apple NeuroMesh looks cool, but it’s for fanboys. You want the open-source Android-for-reals models. It’s all well and good that the Apple brain interface “just works”, but then you’re locked into the Apple ecosystem and you end up waiting in line for an Apple watch.
In my experience, whispering “Don’t tel your mom.” was a recipe for a shit storm of reprimands and rebukes when they invariably did tell their mom. I strongly advise against ever letting your kids hear that sentence, unless it’s in reference to a surprise birthday party or expensive present. Encouraging kids to keep secrets from their mother is generally viewed as marital treason by mothers everywhere.
It’s amusing the way new technology is received. In the YMCA gymnasium in Hollywood (one of the best gyms in the world by the way) there’s a brass plaque on the wall behind the stationary bikes. Brass yet. It reads “No Cell Phones”. I’m pretty sure it’s left over from the days when having a mobile phone was an expensive status symbol that caused resentment among the plebes.
They are socially engaging with one another, and who knows how many others not in the room.
So what is the problem?
Is there something magical or sacred about the sound of the human voice?
=8)-DX @16: And your hand is recyclable!
Brain implants? Cybermen! Delete delete deleeeeet!
Anyone here not have a cell phone, like me?
@zaledalen: At the YMCA where I used to work out, the no cell phones policy was specifically so that people wouldn’t be carrying cameras into locker rooms.
schini @8:
THANK YOU!
That’s pretty much what I argued about on FB regarding this cartoon. People are up in arms because “young people today” are communicating in a different and new way. Oh boy. The world is coming to an end. Those darn millenials. FFS, the way in which humans have communicated has shifted and changed since pretty much forever. There is no one, proper, bestest way for people to communicate.
I think people are less visibly Pavlovian with regard to their phones now than in the old days when you had to run to the phone and couldn’t see who was calling. Back then just yelling “The phone is ringing!” made people stop in their tracks.
About 2375 years ago, a certain Plato imagined someone objecting to writing because of such claimed deleterious effects as people relying on writing rather than their memories and thus seeming learned when they really aren’t.
from The Internet Classics Archive | Phaedrus by Plato (tr. Benjamin Jowett)
I also note that I can’t stand telephones. Being called I experience as a VERY rude interruption. I prefer something less interrupting, like e-mail or text chat.
To add to the insightful comment by #14 about the hearing impaired:
I have Spasmodic Dysphonia (Think of the voice of Diane Rehm on NPR).
Sometimes my voice is very bad just before a botox injection, or very quiet for a week or so just after one.
Texting has become a wonderful way for me to keep in touch with family and friends and make myself understood.
Caine wrote:
Hahahahahahahahaha! *snork* Hahaha…
Ever hear of somebody called Edward Snowden?
For a typical teenager who is not the offspring of a president or a CEO or something, Edward Snowden is a far lesser threat to day-to-day privacy than an eavesdropping dad.
As a parent I strongly advise against actually doing things that would require that sentence, unless it’s in reference to a surprise birthday party or expensive present.
Unless, of course you want your kids to grow into people who think that the main thing about rules isn’t whether they make sense or are just but whether you get caught breaking them or not…
Timgueguen @ 27:
I went without one until several years ago, but as I’m alone, out in the sticks much of the time, I finally gave in and got one – for emergencies, and it’s dinosaur basic. Two people have the number, and I never carry it with me going to town or anything.
Ice Swimmer @ 30:
I’m not so sure of that. I don’t mind the technology, but I do often mind the people attached to the technology. It seems to me that for a lot of people, being attached to their cell every moment has had the effect of disappearing the line between public and private. There’s been many a time I’ve heard jaw-dropping bits of conversation that probably would be best staying firmly under the banner of private, but are taking place while people wander around a shop. And very often, those very indiscreet people have very loud voices.
DonDueed @ 34:
Ever hear of context? My comment was one of a string flowing from the first comment in the thread, which was about a group of adolescents texting one another. In that context, yes, texting is a good way to keep a conversation private from parents, and their prying friends. Do try to keep up.
And in some cases, good things happened.
Cell phones and text messaging (and the internet) have had massive social impact on people with hearing disability or loss and their culture, allowing them instant interaction with everyone. It offered mobility instead of being tied to a TTY device at home. “Socially isolating”? Quite the opposite, it opened up their world. Unfortunately, phone companies showed their usual lack of thinking, saying in the same breath:
Just because some people don’t see a need or benefit doesn’t mean others don’t. The problems arise when those who lack foresight and vision are the ones making the (poor) decisions.
http://www.signlanguagenyc.com/hearing-the-voice-of-the-deaf-community/
For my part, I really do detest social media. I don’t WANT every single person I know to be a part of every single conversation I have forever on, so I never joined it. For me, it’s more a matter of privacy. Also, the hypocracy! It wasn’t but a decade ago that I was the one proselytizing the internet to my family, and they scoffed at me, and now I’M the recluse? How…. DARE YOU! The problem is, apparently people are treating Facebook like the new messiah, so I think I live on the periphery now. The plus? Potential bosses can’t find me online, that’s good right? Really though, the internet was only supposed to speed up individual interaction, not join all 7 billion of us into a single everlasting career destroying twitter conversation from which there is no escape.
On a more serious note, you’ve explained the difficulties, nay, the near-impossibility of digitizing a full human brain. Your joke at the end, do you believe it’ll at least be possible to cybernetically enhance the brain? I’d love to be a whole new better person and at long last be a smarty for once in my life, and that’s basically my only hope, but is it a fool’s hope? What are your thoughts? Further, what are your thoughts on the feasibility of taking a brain and sticking it in a robot body? I mean, not a robot body that perfectly simulates a human one, just the basic functions. A robot leg doesn’t need to perfectly simulate all the cellular interactions and such, right? I mean, it just need to bend and support and send “touch” data back up to the brain box, yes? Even if the think gets cut off, it could just be replaced, so it doesn’t need to be as durable as the real thing.
I’m getting ahead of myself (that’s a pun that’ll become evident soon). Why bother sticking my brain in a robot body when I can stick my brain in a safebox in the basement, controlling a robot body to go outside without even being there? Heck, why even have a robot body? This message brought to you by someone who detests even having a human body, recoiling from their own touch, and indeed abhorring physicality itself, and the rude impositions of this cold and uncaring universe to require one in the first place. But, I’m not one of those singularity types so if that’s deemed unrealistic, I’ll suffer on through having this decaying human form. I mean, that’s just like being sick of being a certain sex right? Except, being sick of bodies entirely? Same thing? Yeah, same thing, I tell myself…
For my part, I really do detest social media. I don’t WANT every single person I know to be a part of every single conversation I have forever on, so I never joined it. For me, it’s more a matter of privacy. Also, the hypocracy! It wasn’t but a decade ago that I was the one proselytizing the internet to my family, and they scoffed at me, and now I’M the recluse? How…. DARE YOU! The problem is, apparently people are treating Facebook like the new messiah, so I think I live on the periphery now. The plus? Potential bosses can’t find me online, that’s good right? Really though, the internet was only supposed to speed up individual interaction, not join all 7 billion of us into a single everlasting career destroying twitter conversation from which there is no escape.
On a more serious note, you’ve explained the difficulties, nay, the near-impossibility of digitizing a full human brain. Your joke at the end, do you believe it’ll at least be possible to cybernetically enhance the brain? I’d love to be a whole new better person and at long last be a smarty for once in my life, and that’s basically my only hope, but is it a fool’s hope? What are your thoughts? Further, what are your thoughts on the feasibility of taking a brain and sticking it in a robot body? I mean, not a robot body that perfectly simulates a human one, just the basic functions. A robot leg doesn’t need to perfectly simulate all the cellular interactions and such, right? I mean, it just need to bend and support and send “touch” data back up to the brain box, yes? Even if the think gets cut off, it could just be replaced, so it doesn’t need to be as durable as the real thing.
I’m getting ahead of myself (that’s a pun that’ll become evident soon). Why bother sticking my brain in a robot body when I can stick my brain in a safebox in the basement, controlling a robot body to go outside without even being there? Heck, why even have a robot body? This message brought to you by someone who detests even having a human body, recoiling from their own touch, and indeed abhorring physicality itself, and the rude impositions of this cold and uncaring universe to require one in the first place. But, I’m not one of those singularity types so if that’s deemed unrealistic, I’ll suffer on through having this decaying human form. I mean, that’s just like being sick of being a certain sex right? Except, being sick of bodies entirely? Same thing? Yeah, same thing, I tell myself…
FWIW, I see the telephone as part of a separate, but convergent track.
Letter writing -> telephone ->email -> texting ->social media
The track in the cartoon is about “the media this technology makes available to me is more interesting to me that talking to you”
The “telephone track” is about “this far away person is more interesting to communicate with than this person next to me”.
They converge in the smart phone, which gives access to both mass media and social media/communication.
Also, I’ll note that it was long a piece of male privilege, changing only slowly, that it was OK for a man to attempt to start a conversation with a woman even if she was reading a book, listening to music, etc. And the “right” to do this is still asserted by a few obnoxious jerks, much to the annoyance of women that I know.
Dark Jaguar @40:
Obviously, your mileage varies. I find Facebook to be quite valuable as a news aggregator (it’s where I learn about many stories of interest to me), as well as a means of making new friends and staying in touch with them in ways I couldn’t in meatspace (bc many of them are spread out around the globe). Of course not all social media is the same. I’m not on Twitter, for instance (though I’m thinking of changing that bc of the speed with which new stories are spread, and I’m interested in following Black Twitter, especially for news about #BLM).
Dark Jaguar @ 40:
Nonsense. A great many people don’t do FB, it’s not a big deal, and I wouldn’t say it’s isolating in the least, not being part of it. I don’t do FB, and I don’t feel like I’ve been shunted to the periphery of anything. If you’re happy with whatever degree of socializing you do via the ‘net, who cares what other people are doing?