Clicking on banner ads keeps JWR alive
Jewish World Review Sept. 28, 1999 /18 Tishrei 5760

Bob Greene

Bob Greene
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Suzanne Fields
Arianna Huffington
Tony Snow
Michael Barone
Michael Medved
Lawrence Kudlow
Greg Crosby
Cathy Young
Kathleen Parker
Dr. Laura
Debbie Schlussel
Michael Kelly
Bob Greene
Michelle Malkin
Paul Greenberg
MUGGER
David Limbaugh
David Corn
Marianne Jennings
Sam Schulman
Philip Weiss
Mort Zuckerman
Chris Matthews
Nat Hentoff
Larry Elder
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Don Feder
Linda Chavez
Mona Charen
Thomas Sowell
Walter Williams
Ben Wattenberg
Bruce Williams
Dr. Peter Gott
Consumer Reports
Weekly Standard

Econophone

In these busy times, why not bring back a certain buzz?


http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
INFORMATION OVERLOAD is threatening to drive everyone insane.

It has become so overwhelming -- the world bombarding people from all directions, nonstop, all the time -- that the new cry in the land is a plea for simplification. How to shut out the voices, the data, the e-mails, the noise? How to isolate oneself, arrange for a little tranquility?

There seems to be no easy way. You're on the phone doing business for 20 minutes, and by the time you hang up there are seven more messages on your voice mail. You come to the office in the morning and turn on the computer, and there are 127 electronic messages that have arrived since you last sat at the screen. You go home at night and try to have a pleasant long-distance conversation with an old friend who's living in the town where you both grew up, and if it's not your own call-waiting that keeps clicking in, then it's his.

All the technology, all the uplinks and downlinks, all the satellite connections that have enabled anyone in any part of the world to be instantly in touch with anyone anywhere else in the world . . . and it's vaguely unsatisfying.

Like that phone conversation with your old friend -- by the time he's gotten off the line three times to check who's on call-waiting, by the time you've clicked off four times to do the same, you've forgotten what it was you were discussing. Your impulse to catch up on old times, to enjoy a leisurely talk, has been chopped up into hurried bits and pieces.

And all that e-mail that's always waiting for you? You glance at it, speed-read it, store it or delete it and move on to the next. It's like a pie-eating contest -- the contents of the individual pies don't matter at all, they exist only to be consumed and tossed aside. There must have been a time when you loved the taste of pie, savored every bite -- but in a pie-eating contest the rules are changed, just as, in the e-mail era, the rules of human discourse have been changed. Move 'em in, move 'em out.

Is there a solution? Can the same brilliant technological minds that enabled us to be so constantly in touch with each other come up with a way to give us some peace?

Actually, the technological device is already there.

Most of us have just forgotten about it.

The solution to information overload? The key to calmness?

The busy signal.

Yes. A return to the busy signal -- which once was the ultimate do-not-disturb sign -- would cut the amount of communication that goes on to a fraction of what it is now. All of the things that the information revolution has accomplished -- the seamless flow of voices and numbers and messages around the world, at the speed of light, 24 hours a day -- would suddenly be logjammed.

Call a person who's on the phone? You can call -- but the person won't answer, because he or she won't know you're on the line. Leave a message? No -- instead of hearing a voice-mail greeting, you'll hear a busy signal.

Send an "instant message" to someone who is working on his or her computer? The computer won't accept the message -- its owner is already doing something on the screen. Try back later, when the computer, and its owner, have chosen to rest.

Would this be frustrating? Incredibly so -- for the person trying to call, for the person trying to reach the computer.

But for the person who chooses to re-engage the busy signal, it would feel like a vitalizing surge in personal power. The busy signal says: I have chosen to do one thing at a time. The busy signal says: I will concentrate on what I'm dealing with right now, and if you'd like to try me later, I may concentrate on you. The busy signal says -- and in a divided-affections, divided-loyalties, divided-attention-span age, this is a hugely controversial statement:

I'm busy.

Would the return of the busy signal cause you to miss some calls, to lose out on some messages?

Yes. No question about that.

What about the really important calls? What about the messages that you truly have to receive?

You will. In due time. If they genuinely are important, the bearer of those messages will soon enough get through to you. That's the definition of something being important: It will get to you, no matter what.

Everything else?

Buzz-buzz-buzz . . . .

The symphony of the busy signal. They're playing our song.



JWR contributor Bob Greene is a novelist and columnist. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

Up

09/24/99: The storms whose paths no one can track
09/21/99: Who's minding the store? Oh . . . never mind
09/17/99:Here's another place where you can't smoke
09/14/99: As certainly as `lovely Rita' follows `when I'm 64' . . .
09/09/99: Why is patience no longer a virtue?
09/07/99: Once upon a time, in an airport close to you . . .
09/03/99: The answers? They are right in front of us
09/01/99: Up the creek with a paddle--and cussing up a storm
08/30/99: $1 Million Question: How'd we get to be so stup-d?
08/27/99: Fun and games at Camp Umbilical Cord
08/25/99: How life has been changed by the woodpecker effect
08/23/99: If you don't like this story, blame the robot who wrote it
08/20/99: A four-letter word that has helped both Bob and Rhonda
08/18/99: They have picked the wrong country
08/16/99: From paperboy to stalker--how the news has changed
08/12/99: Why wasn't anyone watching his brothers?
08/10/99: Come to think of it, stars seldom are the retiring type
08/05/99: The national gaper's block is always jammed
07/29/99: 'Can you imagine the gift you gave me?'
07/27/99: A view to a kill -- but is this really necessary?
07/23/99: Some cream and sugar with your turbulence?
07/21/99: When your name is JFK jr., how do you choose to use it?
07/19/99: The real world is declared not real enough
07/15/99: The real victims of cruel and unusual punishment
07/13/99: A 21st Century idea for schools: log off and learn
07/09/99: Are life's sweetest mysteries still around the bend?
07/07/99: Of great minds, cream cheese and Freddy Cannon
07/02/99: The perfect spokesman for the American way
06/30/99: 'He's 9 years old . . . he trusts people'
06/28/99: A $581 million jackpot in the courthouse casino
06/25/99: A nighttime walk to a House that feels like a cage
06/23/99: At least give men credit for being more morose
06/18/99: On Father's Day, a few words about mothers
06/16/99: If work is a dance, how's your partner doing?
06/14/99: Should a dictionary ever tell you to keep quiet?
06/10/99: A story of Sex, the SuperBowl and your wife
06/07/99: Take a guess where "California Sun" is from
06/03/99: Of summer days, summer nights and pebbles in a jar
06/01/99: Putting your money where their mouths are
05/27/99: Pressed between wooden covers, the summer of her life
05/25/99:The lingering song of a certain summer
05/24/99:We could all use a return to the Buddy system
05/20/99: Now, this is enough to make James Bond double-0 depressed 05/17/99: It's midnight -- do you know where your parents are?
05/13/99: And now even saying "thank you" creates a problem
05/11/99: The answer was standing at the front door

©1999, Tribune Media Services