Relates to Part 1: 1.1 The telephone.
I found this comparison of the development of the computer to the earlier development of the telephone, really interesting. I've often thought about this when encountering people who seem really opposed to social media such as Facebook. How must the telephone have seemed when it first started to become widespread? Did some people pronounce that it would have terrible consequences for human relationships? Was it dismissed as a new-fangled piece of nonsense that would never last?Also I thought about how the switch to STD must presumably have put a lot of operators out of work. This Lady article refers to the work of telephonists in the days when calls were manually connected. This book apparently describes working as a GPO telephonist. This Sunday Express article is interesting and notes that 'The job of operator became a popular choice of career for women in the early and mid-20th century.' It concludes: 'In an age when it is so easy to contact anyone, anywhere, something of the magic of the early years of telephony has been lost.' Over-nostalgic? I don't know as I don't remember the time when you had to go through an operator to make calls. Do older people feel nostalgic for the age of the operator? I can see how a human element in the process of making a telephone call has been lost - though the flip side of that is that it's presumably a lot quicker and easier now to reach the person you're actually trying to speak to.
(Why were long-distance calls called 'trunk' calls?)
What was the job of a ‘telephonist’? This job is referred to in The Best of Girl, published in 2006, a collection of extracts from the 1950s Girl comic, as part of 'Girl's Special Series on Careers'. It begins: 'Vivien has a pleasant voice and a good memory and hopes to become a telephonist when she leaves school', and goes on to outline the training that Vivien undergoes and the duties of the job. It also shows a male friend greeting Vivien with "I hear you're one of the 'Hello Girls' now". To which Vivien responds yes, she is, and she's "awfully thrilled".