John Richardson

The Telephone

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The invention of the telephone was one of the most influential phenomena of its time. When it became known that people could communicate with each other from opposite ends of the US as if they were just a few feet away,  it sparked the interest and excitement of many. Soon people all over America would have the telephone in their lives and it only continued to grow. 

The date that the telephone, meaning tele- "far" and phone- "sound" was invented is not actually clear. Around the late 1800s, several people were working on creating a telephone and this lead to arguments in court, but in the end, Alexander Grahm Bell got his patent through first. So while it can be argued that Gham Bell may not have invented the first telephone, he did receive the patent. This lead to his team creating the American Bell Telephone company which later evolved to the American Telegraph and Telephone company. This name is more commonly known today as AT&T. In 1900 there were about 600,000 phones owned by people, and in just 10 years, this number had shot up to 5.8 million. AT&T had a monopoly in this industry and the effect of this company thriving continues all the way to the present day. In 1913, the Kingsbury Commitment was put into place. This was an agreement between AT&T and the US Attorney General to provide long-distance services to independent phone exchanges. By 1927, the transatlantic telephone cable was laid down. This connected phones from New York and London. This was now a global phenomenon. 

The telephone leads to so many things, such as the gramophone, the first wireless phone by Motorola, or the feeling of being connected from anywhere to help people transition from the city to the suburbs. However, the most direct effect is the job opportunities it provided. With the telephone came the switchboard. Telephone companies needed people to operate and manually connect incoming calls to the people they wanted to talk to. Operators mainly consisted of teenaged boys, but they seemed not to possess the right qualities for the job, such as politeness. Graham Bell suggested that women would be better for the job. In 1878, Emma Nutt became the first female operator. This sparked new job opportunities for women and pretty soon, this field was dominated by women. People enjoyed their "soothing" and polite voices better than the teenaged boys. However, women had to go through a heigh, and voice test to become an operator. They also got very little pay, earning just $10 a month working 54 hours a week. This lead to the women going on strike. The business came to a standstill and they had no choice but to give the women a wage increase. 

Elon.edu Imagining The Internet
History.com History Stories
Britannica.com Telphone
Time.com Emma Nutt

Cnet.com Telphone