*** Copyright c 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1995 by Nicholas
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Telecommunications Tornado

     How does "communications" affect you?
     Communications provides half our gross national product and
employment for half our work force. We mostly work with paper (or
electronic substitutes) rather than till the soil or work with tools.
     As consumers, much of our disposable income goes for information,
entertainment, electronics and communications: stereos and CBs, bills for
phone and cable TV.
     What broadcasters call "free TV" adds $15 billion a year to the
prices we pay for products in TV commercials.
     For individuals and families, much of life is watching TV -- nine
full years by age 65. Add video games, radio, records and movies, and
there's little time left beyond sleep and work.
     Whatever fish may think about, it is unlikely they give water much
thought. Communications is the water through which humans swim. And
we give our environment little more thought than fish do theirs.
     The current telecommunications revolution kind of snuck up on us.
It's scarcely five years old.
     Communications satellites and dishes, home computers and
videotape recorders, integrated circuits and microprocessors, two-way
cable TV and pay channels, the new telephone industry -- it's all come at
once.
     This weekly column will look at our lives in the middle of this
telecommunications tornado. What is it doing to our sense of self, our
family relations, our job prospects? Our national economy? Our politics
and religion?
     What technology should we use -- or fear? Should you buy a home
computer, a videotape recorder, or home earth station?
     What will the breakup of AT&T mean to your phone services and
bills? How can we influence TV's impact on our children? Are TV
advertiser boycotts a good idea?
     Do we need more laws and regulation, or less? Is "deregulation" of
broadcasting and cable a consumer's panacea or just so much corporate
propaganda?
     Just look at the changes. Microprocessors and integrated circuits are
everywhere from our cars to our wristwatches, from microwave ovens to
radio clock alarms -- not to mention home computers and video games.
     Once a high-ticket industrial item, communications satellite
receiving dishes are available for our backyards. Cable television has
expanded from 12 to 100 channels, added burglar alarms, and invites us to
talk back. Videotape recorders will watch television for us.
     Newspaper readers are overwhelmed and confused, as parents,
consumers, employees and citizens.
     There is no single source for answers. Electronics ads are in the
sports section -- with stories of college teams' struggles over television
revenue. When products affect stock prices there's a story in the business
section. Radio and TV critics' columns comment on last week's star and
next week's special.
     There are occasional feature stories. A young boy breaks into a
bank's computer with electronic equipment from home or school. A city
installs TV cameras to watch over the public streets. A computer arranges
dates. The motion picture industry wants to outlaw (or profit from)
videotaping off TV. But few stories even try to make sense of it all.
     With Orwell's 1984 coming soon, that's what this column will
attempt -- a weekly look into our brave new world of communications.
We'll try to combine education with humor, philosophical insights and
practical consumer tips.
     You can participate. Questions are welcomed. Addresses to write
for information will be provided.
     See you here every week for a lively electronIc exchange. In print.
                                                 [ICPC March 15, 1982]
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