The telephone answering machine

Mediated presence and the participatory condition

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12656271
AutoresJoseph Lauer (0000-0001-9028-2360, University of New Hampshire, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen26
Número12
Páginas6861-6880
Fecha de publicación2023-03-20
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaNew Media & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14614448231159350
OpenAlexW4328111739
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas29

During the 1970s and 1980s, telephone answering machines became widely available in the United States. Their use immediately disrupted long-established patterns of interpersonal communication and self-presentation. While solving the temporal limitations and lopsided power of telephone calls, answering machines introduced a range of new techno-social problems. Significantly, they required callers to interact with a machine instead of a human being. The history of the household answering machine provides insight into how telephone users were habituated to changing communication norms during the closing decades of the 20th century. This study examines cultural responses to the answering machine during the 1970s and 1980s, drawing attention to the following three key themes: the perils of perpetual contact, mediated performances, and social surveillance. These themes would shape understandings of digital mediation and become defining characteristics of an emergent “participatory condition.”

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