I should have seen this one coming. There was a time when we had
land-line phones in our homes and used public pay phones when out.
(Go back a bit further and the police had to watch for blinking lights
at major intersections that told them to stop by a call booth to check
in for their next police call. My home town of Berkeley was one of the
first to experiment with 2-way radios in the squad cars.)
Then cell phones took off and now people have their land-line phone
(reliability and better sound), their cell phone (always in-touch), and
even computer phone calls to avoid long-distance charges. Yesterday,
I learned that ATT has decided that it no longer makes business sense
to maintain the public phones booths given the prevalence of cell
phones. So they are ripping them out, at least in California, and
selling them (just check e-bay for prices).
The psychological relevance? Clearly cell phones have a down
side. Just consider the research demonstrating the narrowing of
attentional resources when making a call while driving. But I wonder if
there are measurable psychological benefits associated with cell
phones. People have the comfort of being always potential in-touch,
women walking alone at night feel more secure when talking on the phone
to someone, etc. And could there might be a down side to all this
connectedness.
I don't have a cell phone and I really cherish my times when no one
can reach me. After a somewhat stressful morning in the office, it is
nice to wander off campus for a sandwich, relaxed with the knowledge
that this is truely my down time--no phones, no knocks on the door, no
crises to deal with. And I can always use a public pay phone if I feel
a need to contact someone. But with no pay phones--does that mean I
have to join and masses of cell-phone toting folks?
Change was in the wind when they took out enclosed phone booths in
favor of open-air pay phones (and the encompanying problems of outside
sound interference). I should have realized a total phase-out was in
the works.
--Dave
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David E. Campbell, Ph.D.[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of PsychologyPhone: 707-826-3721
Humboldt State University FAX: 707-826-4993
Arcata, CA 95521-8299 www.humboldt.edu/~campbell/psyc.htm
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