Analyzes the development of the telephone, newspapers, and videotex in terms of purchasing patterns and styles of usage. Concludes that parallels in the early histories of telephones and newspapers suggest that videotex will likely become a service for business and an elite group of customers, not a mass audience. (PD)

Describes the United States as a growth-oriented, high-technology, high-consumption society where a growing sense of environmental responsibility and activism has usually taken an adversary relationship, often necessarily, towards such progress. Examines the historic roots that environmental protection and a consumer society have in common.…