New technology calls for new etiquette

This 24-page booklet, published by the Bell Telephone Service in the 1950s, was distributed to teach children how to use the telephone and the correct manners for telephone conversations. Suggested activities are even included in the back. The rotary phone is obsolete, but have telephone manners (p. 16) also changed? If so, what are the new expectations for polite behavior for smart phones?
Ask students to consider why a society should or shouldn’t have standards for behavior (manners or etiquette). How does one learn manners in the 21st century? Who teaches these lessons in correct behavior – parents? teachers? peers? Should students have more lessons in polite behavior? If so, what behaviors should be covered? Student may or may not have very different views from adults.
The entire booklet is available here “Classic Rotary Phones


For more by this author, Cynthia W. Resor, see

Exploring Vacation and Etiquette Themes in Social Studies Primary Source Inquiry for Middle and High School

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Full-text etiquette and advice books online:


About the header image: Hill’s Manual of Social and Business Forms: Guide to Correct Writing by Thomas E. HIll, 1875.