The Telephone

The Telephone

Introduction

The telephone, an initial version of which was patented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, emerged from research into improving telegraphy. The innovation was a mechanism for delivering voice and audio signals over a short distance via wires. As with most technical developments, however, a number of possible uses were envisioned for this system of distributing sound (Moyal, 2009). One interesting early application was the news and entertainment services offered in the 1890s to subscribers in several European and American cities. These “telephone newspapers” operated as early wired broadcast systems, offering a mix of news, lectures, and a wide range of other information and entertainment options (including church services, concerts, and class lessons). However, with the rise of telephone's second major innovation, the concept of a switched network, where signals were directed to specific recipients rather than broadcast generally, systems found increasing value in the telephone as an interpersonal communication device rather than as a mass medium. With the rise of radio, the remaining “telephone newspapers” were quickly supplanted by the more mass-oriented broadcast medium. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of Telephones on society.

Development and Diffusion

Telephony's two innovations, combined, helped set it apart from existing communication systems, broadened its usability, and prompted its growing diffusion. First, its use of the voice rather than Morse code for messages created a system that could be used by almost anyone. Second, its development as a switched system allowed for a more private, point-to-point network and permitted more efficient accommodation of multiple occasional users. This allowed for development of an interactive, and broadly public, telecommunication system. Widely established in America and Western Europe by World War I (1914-18), the telephone had a number of broad social and economic impacts (Haddon, 2004). Diffusion continued worldwide, particularly in urban areas, and more widely in the United States as a result of a set of policies promoting the idea of universal service. By World War II (1939-45), the telephone was nearly ubiquitous in urban areas, providing local, long distance, and (expensive) international connections.

Discussion

The basic telephone has become a taken-for-granted part of our everyday life, but when it first appeared, its role was far from clear. Telephony provides an example of how difficult it is to point to a first “inventor” of a new technology given that several researchers were working in this field. Some of these researchers were trying to improve telegraphy, by enabling it to carry more traffic, when they discovered how sound could be sent over wires. However, the telegraphy industry was not interested in developing this line of innovation because from its perspective the telegraph left a permanent record, which a sound message would not, and the development of automatic telegraphy for sending telegrams had led to one telegraphic vision of a telegraph going into every home and business. The telephone, for many observers at that time, had no obvious use—it was perceived as being a toy (Marvin, 2008).

Partly because of some technical limitations on the quality ...