One might argue the advent of the telephone began the slow, precipitous decline of human communication.

The telephone

Prior to Alexander Graham Bell's insistent "Mr. Watson, come here!" command that spawned the modern telecommunications era in 1876 (legend has it a seething Watson retaliated hours later by making the world's first telemarketing timeshare cold call to Bell), the exchange of information throughout society was quaint, orderly, even urbane. Letters took days or weeks to reach their recipients; the telegraph was a cryptic, limited message delivery system. Even face-to-face communication was generally far different than today — it's been said that were we to parachute directly into the Jacksonian era and eavesdrop on a typical conversation, it would sound to us as if the participants were speaking in a foreign tongue.

Once the telephone began widespread usage, however, fabric-of-society degradation began: heavy breathing crank calls, arguments punctuated by slam-down hang-ups, long distance company telemarketing cold calls, 976 numbers, ubiquitous cell phone usage and "sexting". The modernization of the phone hang-up mechanism may have negated the slam-down issue, as it no longer carries the same weight when an arguer says, "Oh yeah? Up yours!", hunts for the disconnect button and — beep! — jabs at it firmly. Nevertheless, the landslide is decidedly in the wrong direction. We're a far cry from where we were 150 years ago when politeness and civility reigned supreme.

• Buying Beanies

• Snowboarding Rails To Buy

  eBay: snowboard rails ... Where results contain multi-variation listings, the item counts on the page are inclusive of all matching variations that are available.

• Buy Garden Furniture Online

• Buy Bow Ties

  Over 5000 Mens Designer and Novelty Neckties, Bow Ties and Accessories at Great Prices. All Ties In-Stock with Secure Ordering and Free Shipping with Minimum Purchase.

• Buy Airsoft Guns

  I took my Airsoft Shotgun and a few pistols for a weekly battle in the woods with some friends, and I got to tell you that they did not stand a chance against me.