Is 4G Killing the Telephone Call?

A recent New York Times article mourned the death of the telephone call. It seems that constant access to text messaging and e-mail is more and more dooming actual vocal communication between two people not immediately in the room with each other to the fate of the telegraph and other antiquated forms of communication. Yet might the telephone call live on, even in the mobile broadband age?

It must have been shocking to use a telephone for the first time after it was developed. The idea of hearing the sound of another human voice electronically was already possible through radio and movies, but real-time two-way communication was completely unheard of. How quickly this became a common part of life! First came telephones for home use (they were originally installed only in businesses, and in fact, phone companies at first tried to discourage their use in homes), followed by answering machines, wireless service, and then all at once, mobile broadband service, e-mail, and text messaging.

There is a theory that human beings, at least in capitalist societies, tend to use the least amount of effort to get a particular need met. The main point of a telephone call is of course to communicate something to another person, but it seems that many people are finding e-mail and text messaging more convenient for many purposes. A 2010 article in "Wired" magazine, also on the "death" of the telephone call, gave several reasons why a telephone call is not always the most efficient form of communication. One reason is that a telephone call can be disturbing to one's work or routine. Unlike with instant messages, there is no way to tell if a person is available to take a phone call without actually calling him or her. A phone call is a totally different animal, presuming instant communication with the recipient. For many people, a telephone call can be an irritating break in their workday, leading some people to believe that a telephone call might actually be a sign of professional disrespect. For example, one would expect a boss to constantly call his or her secretary, but would one expect the secretary to constantly call his or her boss? There is an asymmetry in telephone conversations that are simply not present in other forms of communication

As a counter, some people argue that the immediacy is part of what makes telephone calls so valuable. There is a certain emotional content and warmth, it can be argued, in a telephone call. However, for many purposes for which a telephone call is currently used, it is certainly not necessary to include the amount of emotional content which usually exists for a telephone call. Thus, many people find it easier to focus more on their work, and less on feelings and emotions that might otherwise distract them, when they are not asked to respond to interrupting telephone calls.

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