Essential McLuhan 278 THE TELEPHONE The very nature of the telephone, as all electric media, is to compress and unify that which had previously been divided and specialized. Only the “authority of knowledge” works by telephone because of the speed that creates a total and inclusive field of relations.—1964 The absence of image on the telephone is a great big positive potential of that medium that has never been tapped. It could be used for teaching mathematics to disadvantaged children and so on, to people who have no mathematical aptitude and so on.—1966 The auditory image of the telephone is of low definition. It elicits maximum attention and cannot be used as background. All the senses rally to strengthen the weak sound of the phone. We even feel the need to be kinetically involved via doodling or pacing. And whereas we complete the strong auditory image of radio by visualizing, we only slightly visualize on the phone.—1964 Whereas we accept the phone as an invader of our homes, we are by no means ready to leap outside our homes for socializing in the way which the videophone demands.—1976 Why does a phone ringing on the stage create instant tension? Why is that tension so very much less for an unanswered phone in a movie scene? The answer to all of these questions is simply that the phone is a participant form that demands a partner, with all the intensity of electric polarity.—1964 The English dislike the telephone so much that they substitute numerous mail deliveries for it. The Russians use the telephone for a status symbol, like the alarm clock worn by tribal chiefs as an article of attire in Africa. —1964 We…hijack the [Inuit] group with Anik, with the satellites, and we put them on the air. You heard the story about having telephones put in there, but the people didn’t want any private phones. Everybody wanted a party line so they could listen in to everybody else. They refused to have any private phones up in the Eskimo country. They insisted that everybody’s conversation be available to everybody simultaneously.—1973 Telephone in hand, the decision maker can exercise only the authority of knowledge, not delegated authority. —1960 “Real” is an idea borrowed from the visual world. The word “phony”—which means “unreal” in English slang—originally meant “as unreal as a telephone conversation.” In the 1920 dictionary, that’s what “phony” meant. —1978 Electric media transport us instantly wherever we choose. When we are on the phone we don’t just disappear down a hole, Alice in Wonderland style—we are there and they are here. —1971