Too Much Noise

Those automated telephone calls, whether by office seekers, political parties or other organizations, are really annoying. They come in several times a day as the election approaches. If you’re not at home, you still get them on your answering machine. You can’t talk back, even if you agree with the message. And it doesn’t help to be on a “don’t call” list because these calls are placed by random automatic dialing and they’re not covered by the list anyway.

It’s not just the politicians who are to blame. It’s the high-tech world we live in and the explosion of communication noise. Gather ’round children and let us tell you about the olden days, when telephones were confined to homes and offices, with public phones in soundproofed booths.

Not anymore. Cell phones may be the worst offenders. People blabbing away on the street, in elevators, in restaurants and in checkout lines are now part of the urban landscape, but we spotted an incessant talker recently on the carriage roads of Acadia National Park. When the chatter of a chipmunk is replaced by an extended discussion about what she said about what he said when that’s not what he really meant, etc., the restorative abilities of the trails are severely tested. Talking on a cell phone while driving a car is a well-known safety problem, although exceptions might be made.

Combine them at an airport with the television sets that announce continuously. For every interested listener, there are many more who would just like a little peace and quiet – or maybe would prefer to read a newspaper.

Has the poor American citizen, victim of all this noise pollution, no recourse from being converted unwittingly or deliberately into a captive audience? Indeed, help is on the way, from the same high-tech world that brought us the noise plague. A San Francisco man has come up with something called

TV-B-GONE. It’s a universal remote control gadget with only one function – an “off” button. Point it at any television set, press the button, and the screen goes black. It sells for $14.99 and can be carried on a key chain. The inventor says they are selling like hotcakes.

Another gadget can zap those annoying cell phones, too, although it is illegal in this country and costs a lot besides. The cell phone jammer has been around for several years, but it came to public notice only lately, when some newspaper reporters covering a wedding in Monterrey, Mexico, wondered why their cell phones weren’t working. Four Roman Catholic cathedrals there had concealed jammers among the statuary to keep cell phone calls from interfering with their ceremonies.

The jammers have also been used in India’s Parliament, in Tokyo’s theaters and commuter trains, and in Italian universities, to prevent cheating in examinations. Various brands of jammers are on sale on the Internet, the size of a paperback and priced at around $2,000. One of them can knock out every cell phone within 100 yards.

Each of Amtrak’s high-speed Acela trains between Boston and Washington has a “quiet car.” Enforcement is by announcements, discreet notices and peer pressure, rather than by jammer. But what about those political phone calls at home? No real cure is in sight, but it might help to have a word with your congressman or state representative. Give them a call on your cell phone – who could object?