"Reach out and touch someone" is the motto on one of the largest telephone companies in the US. But what if you could reach out and see someone? “Information Technology” and “The Information Superhighway” are the buzzwords in the new media these days. Cable television companies are competing with telephone companies for the opportunity to connect every home to 500 television channels. New fiber optic cables will make it possible to link individual residents with airlines, stores, police, fire and rescue, and schools. Videophones that provide both sight and sound will become the next medium used to join callers with the outside world.
Everyone who watches television, (even though we don’t have 500 channels yet), has seen the videophone commercial with the traveling businesswoman calling home from an airport to see her baby. With the promise of videophones in the near future, AT&T has created a very effective image of the application of information technology. It's not just seeing the infant, but the husband diapering, that makes such a powerful statement about the future.
What the commercial implies is that along with the video phone will come the opportunity to check up on your spouse and family at moments notice from anywhere in the world. While on an exciting business trip to an exotic place with a large company expense account, a mother can call her house and see that her children are changed and bathed, and that her home isn’t being over taken by old pizza boxes and beer cans. This same woman can check on her husband in the middle of the night, chalking it up to time zone changes if he’s alone.
Videophones will keep homes clean, spouses faithful, and children well dressed and spotless. Everyone will have to keep their beepers on, (in case the boss calls), their clothing ironed (in case mom calls), and their facial expressions and hand gestures under control, (in case the IRS calls). Annoying crank phone calls will be a thing of the past. Giggling children would be a dead give away to the question, “Is your refrigerator running?” Hang up calls would no longer be anonymous. A resurgence of politeness and etiquette will transcend the ugly American into a model of fashion conscious decorum.
With all the positive changes that the videophone will bring, there will come a down side. Lying to videophone solicitors about already having one, when they can clearly see that you do not, will be a no-no. No one will be able to tell their mother the dog just puked on the rug to quickly end the conversation. Obscene phone calls will be taken to new heights. Envision groping for the phone at 3:00 a.m. only to open your eyes to heavy breathing accompanied by a demonstration.
It is extremely important that anyone embracing information technology and video phones in particular lobby the manufacturers for a “picture off” button. This feature would give the person on the receiving end of the call a chance to turn the picture off. “Picture Off” would be the savior of many blossoming relationships. No one would want to be seen first thing in the morning by a new love prospect. Teenagers with acne, woman with bad dye jobs and men without their toupees could save face by cutting the video image. Lying to sales people would, still be possible, and children could still ask about running refrigerators.