Image credit: How to make friends by Telephone.
We had to learn that phones were supposed to be ready and not present at had.
This is a US telephone leaflet from mid last century, called “How to make friends by Telephone.”
This instruction says: “Speak TO the person at the other end of the line — not TO the telephone”
So when I’m designing, this is what I want to happen. I want the rules of use to disappear, and just be left with the natural behaviour.
Mobile phones now help out with this in a really subtle way. There used to be a rule: keep your voice down when you’re on your phone. Don’t shout! That rule’s not so important now. The mobiles feed back your voice through the speaker at a lower volume, so you can hear yourself as you’re speaking. It’s called sideband and it helps you moderate your volume.
Fewer rules, and more natural behaviours.