Phone-y Science Fiction or Fact?

By FATHER BOB PAGLIARI, C.SS.R., Ph.D.

What intrigues us most about science fiction devices? Perhaps it's the thought that previously unimaginable fantasy so quickly becomes a taken-for-granted fact. Take human communication over the telephone for example.

When I was growing up, our house had a "phone room." And the only thing in that room was the phone. This rotary-operated, pitch-dark device—you could order any color you wanted but they only came in black—sat on a small table along side a phonebook—there was no such thing as directory assistance so we actually "looked up" the numbers we wanted to call. And there had to be a chair next to the book. After all, since the phone was attached to a short cord, strolling while talking was out of the question. In our four-story walk up, there was no basement phone, no kitchen phone, and no bedroom phone. When the clanging bells beckoned—soothing music downloads and popular ring-tone options weren't available then—we literally had to run to pick up the call because there was no answering machine to take messages or trace-back buttons to discover who had been trying to reach us.

There was a distinct advantage however. People could only carry on one conversation at a time. The only concept of "call waiting" was waiting to place a call. Frequently when we picked up the receiver to begin dialing we would hear a conversation already in progress. Most people could not afford a "private line" so "party lines" meant having to wait for the neighbors to finish their calls before we could begin ours.

Last week I couldn't help but notice two women dining together in a restaurant. Instead of talking to each other, they were both on their cell phones chatting with someone else.

Nowadays, it's not uncommon for me to walk into a classroom and observe a college fellow text messaging his girlfriend—who is sitting in the same classroom!

The phone room is ancient history. And to be honest, I'm delighted that wireless communication has evolved from speculation to expectation. Science fiction is rapidly yielding to science fact when it comes to telecommunications and similarly astounding electronic devices. My hope is that our technology is bringing us closer together and making us more humane, more connected to one another, not less.

For holy homework: deliberately substitute a phone call to a neighborhood friend or a colleague at work with a physical meeting. Take note of the enormous difference that this face-to-face, human-contact conversation makes in your relationship. Resolve that the use of any future technology will only serve to make us more humane with one another, less phone-y.

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