When I was in elementary school, I became close friends with the other kids in my neighborhood by going to their house and asking if they wanted to hang out. I would have to walk up the stairs to their front porch, work up the courage to ring the doorbell, and hope that my friend answered and not their parents or annoying sibling. I would wait in limbo, counting the seconds that were slipping away, wondering how long was an acceptable time to wait before giving up and walking away. I know it sounds strange but that waiting period was always exciting to me, it taught me that sometimes you make the trip somewhere and people don’t actually want to meet up, and it helped me learn polite interaction with people before asking them for friendship. Nowadays, I don’t have to wait in limbo at a door, instead I just send a text, either “here” or “door”, when I arrive and they greet me, no doorbell necessary. Since many people who have grown up in the age of the smart phone seem to opt in to this text approach rather than actually ring a doorbell, the bell is used less often and begins to be associated with unknown visitors, rather than a visiting friend.
With the advent of the Ring doorbell camera, a wave of paranoia has occured on front porches across America. It leaves a certain level of mystery as to who is at the front door when the bell rings. With a quick opening of an app, one can see, and even talk to whomever it may be. One of the interesting things about the app is that nearby users can share clips, therefore warning each other about suspicious figures ringing their bells or solicitors making rounds in the neighborhood. Having eliminated friends from ringing doorbells and been shown mainly warnings of suspicious figures on front porches, the doorbell has grown to have more of a negative association than it once did. Constant surveillance of one’s porch along with vigilant posting of suspicious behavior with little grounds of evidence other than a stranger unexpectedly ringing the doorbell leads to an environment that is detrimental to sense of community. If people are scared to open their door, and perhaps talk to someone, just because they don’t know them, they may never meet their neighbors or have a chance to buy girl scout cookies.
Sometimes I hope for an EMP, because then people would have to go out and meet others in their area the old fashioned way. They would have to walk up the stairs to someone’s house and physically have to knock, then wait for a response. The people at home would have to overcome their fears of letting the outside world in and physically go to the door to see who was there. It would be returning to a simpler time with less surveillance and more connection.