Technophobia 1.0

There are plenty of folks who are just not comfortable with the onward march -- at an ever-increasing pace -- of technology these days. Who needs all this social media and smartphones and tweeting, they say. Isn't good ol' e-mail enough of an advance?

It may be comforting to know that it's been this way for a long time. On Twitter today, Nancy Scola linked to this delightful story on the official Senate website about the reaction to the installation of dial phones on Capitol Hill in 1930.

The following resolution, introduced by Sen. Carter Glass of Virginia, passed without objection on May 22:

Whereas dial telephones are more difficult to operate than are manual telephones; and Whereas Senators are required, since the installation of dial phones in the Capitol, to perform the duties of telephone operators in order to enjoy the benefits of telephone service; and Whereas dial telephones have failed to expedite telephone service; Therefore be it resolved that the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate is authorized and directed to order the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co. to replace with manual phones within 30 days after the adoption of this resolution, all dial telephones in the Senate wing of the United States Capitol and in the Senate office building.

It turned out, though, that some of the younger senators actually liked the newfangled phones. So one day before they were scheduled to be ripped out, Maryland's Millard Tydings stepped in with an alternative resolution allowing for the installation of phones that worked in both the new and the traditional ways. That, apparently, satisfied all sides.