Michael Regilio

There was even an etiquette manual in 1902 that warned that communication by telephone should not be considered private.

People worried about constant surveillance.

I had no idea that party lines like that were still around in the 90s.

Yeah, no, I mean, it's true.

And people were super freaked out by this telephone.

Many religious leaders argued that the telephone encouraged idle chatter and temptation, especially between young men and women.

One Boston clergyman warned that young women using the telephone would be exposed to unseen male voices.

Look, I don't know a single guy that just gets a random nude photo sent to his phone.

But every woman I know has received unsolicited Richard pics.

So, yeah, I'm not sure that.

Women were ever the problem in this equation.

No, no.

Yeah, I know.

I remember it well.

Yeah, you could hear, I remember being out in the yard and you could hear the phone ringing.

But another criticism, other than Mark Twain's that had a little merit, was the idea that disembodied voices strip conversation of empathy and nuance, which is actually pretty undeniable.

Language experts will tell you that body language and microexpressions are a huge part of communication.

And that is exactly one of the criticisms experts now have about screens.

Yeah.

And those concerns were echoes from generations earlier about the printing press.