Video link: https://archive.org/details/Nationat1951
The Bell System film Nation at Your Fingertips, (1951) provides an interesting technological insight to the history of long-distance telephone services. The film shows how residents in Englewood, New Jersey, the city where the first experimental direct dial program was installed, can place a call across the country without an operator. It follows the story of an ordinary married couple who place a call from Englewood, New Jersey to their daughter who lives in San Francisco, California by using an "area code."
The film goes on to explain the interesting history of the telephone and how it has changed over time. For example, the film illustrates: the transformation from an old dial phone that connected to the wall to sitting comfortably in the living room while talking on the phone; the transformation from the first male telephone operators to female telephone operators, to having no operators at all; and the transformation from only placing calls to individuals living in the same area to placing calls across the country by using area codes.
What I find very interesting about this film is that we are able to take a look into the past and see a currently commonplace technology when it was first being introduced. From watching this film, we are able to make connections between how we use our cell-phones today versus how we used the basic telephone in the past. We can also make the connection that the old telephone is very similar to the computer and internet in how they must navigate through different channels and avenues in order to connect to a desired destination. It is very interesting how society has developed and become so incredibly technologically advance.
I think this film is very interesting. It's funny how making a direct call was such a big deal back then. We don't know what it's like to have to call a telephone operator to make a phone call. I also like the connection you made to the internet. I never thought about it that way, but you're right There are so many hyperlinks on the computer that connect us to other web pages, so maybe in the future that will change just like the telephone did.
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