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New technologies always bring problems as well as benefits. There is a learning curve for both the individual and society. The individual, of course, has to learn how to actually operate the technology. While society has learn how to cope with the changes brought about by the technology.

Take the telephone. When it first came out at the end of the nineteenth century it was very popular. But as telephone ownership spread there were some problems. While the telephone made instant communication between people possible, it also meant that people had access to one's home 24/7. Once you brought a telephone you could no longer come home, close the door and shut the world out – they could reach you by telephone.

Then there was the issue of privacy. During their first half century of existence, telephones operated with party lines where multiple homes shared the same phone line. In cities it was not uncommon to pick up the telephone to make a call only to find it was in use by another party – and you could keep the phone to your ear and listen to the conversation!

In urban areas, where people took their privacy more seriously, this came to be frowned upon. In addition to being frowned upon and considered to be bad telephone etiquette, people often didn't know the other people on their party line which helped reduce the incentive to listen in on conversations. After all, what good is gossip if you don't know who is being talked about?

In rural areas the situation was different as there was already a tradition of people knowing everyone else's business. Here the telephone simply facilitated the process. Also, in rural areas there were not only more people connected to the same line but when a call came in every phone on the line rang. Each person on the line had their own combination of long and short rings so that people would immediately recognize whether it was their call or someone else's. However, in practice, this meant that everyone on the line knew who was being called and could then decide whether or not the call was worth listening in on. Unlike cities, where it came to be considered rude to listen in on other people's conversations, in many rural areas it came to be expected that neighbors would listen in on conversations and was considered rude to make comments indicating that they should butt out.

Another characteristics of those early phones was the operator. When you picked up your phone to make a call, instead of dial tone, an operator came on asking “Number Please”. Once given the number, the operator would make the connection. Again, in urban areas there were many callers and many operators and the two groups usually didn't know each other. Also, with larger populations, there was more traffic, so calls were put through and the operator went on to the next customer. But in rural areas there was generally only one operator and few calls. Not only was the operator known personally as a member of the community but, with fewer calls to handle, she had time to listen in or even join in the conversation once the connection was made. Thanks to the operator, juicy gossip wasn't restricted to just those on the same party line. Once the operator heard something on one line she would quickly spread it to the others. If you wanted to get word out quickly to the town, nothing could beat telling the telephone operator for speed and efficiency. On the other hand, if you didn't want the word spread around, it was best to avoid mentioning it on the telephone.

Over the years society has adjusted to the telephone with a combination of generally accepted ways of using the telephone as well as advances in technology that have included private lines for all, elimination of human operators, caller ID to screen calls and the ability to turn off the phone and have voice mail collect your messages when you don't want to be disturbed.

Of course, once we had things worked out with the telephone, along came the cell phone with a whole new set of challenges.

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