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A slightly eccentric professor of archaeology in West Africa would neither answer the
telephone nor reply to letters. As for letters, he would say, leave them long enough and they
answer themselves. As for the telephone, I consider it an unwarranted intrusion. If people want
to talk to me they can come and see me. Of course, the world could not carry on in its modern
way without the telephone, which has become an essential part of living. Yet, in some respects
it can be a curse.
Today, telephonic communication is worldwide and instantaneous. It is possible to dial
people at the other end of the world without even going through an operator. This is fine,
providing the time-differences are remembered. More seriously, in conjunction with satellite
television, world news is instantly on our screens, sometimes even as it happens. Such exposure
of, usually, unhappy events, wars, accidents, acts of terrorism etc can actually have a bad
influence on the course of a war, a hostage-taking, or a tribal massacre. When it took a British
ship four months to deliver a letter to or from, say, India, the crisis had often been settled locally,
with much less anxiety all round.
The telephone has greatly decreased the volume of mail worldwide. Some letters have to
be written, of course, but the art of private letter writing has become a dying art. Writing a good
letter means first collecting then sorting out one's thoughts, and the finished article can be
something to be proud of, a small masterpiece. And because letters today are considered of
secondary importance, mail services in many countries have greatly deteriorated.
One of the most annoying experiences in life is to be seated in somebody's office and to
begin to talk business when suddenly the telephone rings. "Oh, excuse me", says the official, "I
must answer this". Why should the telephone be given priority over the individual who has taken
the trouble to attend in person ?
The telephone can become a curse in the home, when it is abused either by the caller or
by a family member. Most countries have customary hours for mealtimes, and a caller who is
determined to speak to you at all costs will often make use of this knowledge, interrupt your
meal, and perhaps or perhaps not apologize for doing so. Small wonder that many people take
the phone off the hook when they sit down to eat.
There are the callers you can well do without. Some commercial concerns employ
salespeople to use the hard sell on the telephone, and this is becoming such a nuisance that
in many cases the problem is being brought under legal control. The worst kind of unwanted
calls are abusive calls or obscene calls, made usually to single women and often late at night.
Modern telephone systems can be made to identify the source of these calls, and this should go
some way to helping the police solve the problem.
Family members have been mentioned, and here one thinks of the commercial exploitation
of teenagers who are pressed to use chat-lines to pour out their troubles, or to talk to teenager
pals overseas. Neither occupation offers any benefit, and the parents' phone bill may become
astronomical.
Does all this mean that the telephone is really a curse? Of course not. Like any other
advance in science the telephone is neutral. If it is abused, it becomes a curse. If properly used
it is a great blessing in many ways.
To the lonely person, telephone chats are a blessing. To the disabled person, the telephone
may be the only means of keeping in touch with family and friends. To the business, the stock
exchange, and countless other features of modern life, the telephone is essential. In the police
response to crime, in fire or medical emergencies, the telephone is
indispensable. In all matters
which require urgent communication and quick response, such as the locating of suitable bodily
organs for transplant surgery, the telephone is a boon. For air to ground and ship to shore
communication, the telephone is vital. Properly and responsibly used, it is a blessing.
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