Merging Into Electronic Traffic on Superhighway Is Causing Some Anxiety

Say the words information superhighway , and everyone nods sagely. We’re hip.

But listen closely, and you’ll notice a bit of tension when the talk turns to specifics. The concept is so huge and abstract that many minds have trouble grasping it.

Even so, especially in business settings, we feel obliged to speak of cyberspace with some intelligence. It is, after all, the future.

That is producing some anxiety.

Carolyn Johnson, president of Irvine ad agency Johnson/Ukropina, concedes that the idea of traveling this particular road makes her nervous.

“Let me know when the information superhighway is coming,” she said, “so I can get out of the way.”

Johnson acknowledges that she still hasn’t figured out how to program her VCR. But even the technologically gifted are having doubts.

Wired magazine, written for travelers in cyberspace, told readers in its March issue that the information superhighway is bunk. “There will be no 500-channel future. . . . There will be no virtual sex.”

But the prospect of increased reliance on electronic communication is making some people jittery.

A man at a recent breakfast meeting of communications professionals said he has heard that home buyers soon will be able to call up housing prices on their home computers and place their own bids, thus eliminating the need for real estate brokers.

That brought a quick rebuttal from Jay Tolman, director of advertising for Century 21, who happened to be at the same table.

“Salespeople have to provide added value,” Tolman insisted. Besides, he said, people can already become their own real estate agents if they want to--but is that a good thing?

Others question whether the superhighway even exists. John Vrba, head of Western International Media’s Newport Beach office, declares that home shopping services, Sonic-the-Hedgehog computer games and videophones are nothing but a concoction of industries trying to raise capital.

“Nobody has called me,” Vrba said, “and asked me whether I want to order pizza via my television set.” And even if someone did ask, he said, he can’t see paying for such a service.

Another woman says she is fed up with all the cyber talk, especially the puns: “road kill on the information superhighway,” “stalled in the breakdown lane,” “merging into electronic traffic.”

“I hope everybody on the information superhighway gets a flat,” she said.

Pacific Bell, one of the main builders of the road to tomorrow, has apparently heard what the skeptics are saying. It recently came out with a TV advertising campaign about the “communications superhighway.” The commercial’s tag line tells viewers, “It’s real, California.”

If there weren’t disbelief, would we need that reassurance?

Said Aaron Goldberg, executive vice president of Computer Intelligence InfoCorp. in Santa Clara: “Information superhighway? Have you ever dealt with the phone company? The words aggressive , dynamic and change-oriented do not spring to mind.”