Phone books … were the first step in our long journey toward the pandemic self-surveillance of Facebook. “Hey strangers!” anyone who appeared in their pages ordained. “Here’s how to reach me whenever you feel like it, even though I have no idea who you are.
This great article by Greg Beato points out how the phone book impacted everything from the way we do business (AAA Bail Bonds, anyone?) to our notions about privacy.
A relative of mine loves to rail against “the Facebook,” warning us all how terrible it is for others to have easy access to our contact information or our home address. And yet, no one rails against the humble phone book, which dutifully serves up our home address and phone number to anyone who cares to look.
Its power has been diminished somewhat, I think, by the advent of mobile phones (with numbers the phone book doesn’t list), but it’s good to be reminded that all the shiny new terrors of the technological age had their precursors.
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