Have you hand written a letter lately? How about using a phone which has a cord attached that limits you to walking 20 or so feet while chatting?

The world moves at a fast pace these days and technology (for better or worse) sets the pace to a great degree.

“YOU hardly ever hear the phone ring any more,” the publicity director at my publishing company said last summer. “I walk down the hall now, and it’s just so quiet.”

We were discussing the prospects for my coming book, and I thought she was warning me that business was down. But that wasn’t it. Her concern was exactly as she’d described it: the phones rarely rang. Everyone sat at desks silently reading and typing e-mail messages instead. People still had conversations, but the background din had sharply diminished.

The waning of the office phone call is one of those cultural declines that few people are likely to lament. It’s true that the changing mechanics of the telephone itself have prompted some sentimental outbursts; a page on www.wikihow.com gives step-by-step instructions for using an old rotary phone. (Step 1. Remove the handset from the cradle with your hand.)

HT: Instapundit