Once upon a time there was a black telephone with a round base and a rotary dial. This was 70 years ago and the round black stationary phone morphed into what we now call a cell phone.
The telephones of the 1940s and our cell phones today had and have their advantages and disadvantages.
Phones in the 1940s weren’t portable. You definitely couldn’t carry them around. Cell phone users today are “attached” to their phones.
The phones 70 years ago had “party lines”. Two or more families used the same phone line. As a kid it was fun to pick up the receiver and realize a conversation was in progress.
If it was interesting you quietly listened in but if it was a long winded conversation and you really wanted to use the phone you would announce right in the middle of their conversation “excuse me, but we have an emergency and really need to use this phone.” Hopefully there were no parents in the vicinity.
It was quicker to dial phone numbers back then. No area codes and there were only 5 digits in your phone number.
Maybe folks didn’t have that many friends to call 70 years ago. Today people seem to be on their cell phones all the time.
Big old, black rotary phones weren’t dangerous unless you picked one up and threw it at someone. Modern cell phones can be dangerous at times. It’s too easy to fall into a fountain or walk into the side of a moving car while being engrossed in your phone conversation.
If you had to make a phone call back then and you were driving you just waited til you got home. You can make a phone call now while driving but it’s dangerous and illegal. Texting while driving is even worse. One eye on the road and one eye on your phone doesn’t sound logical. People aren’t constructed that way.
My cell phone has a life of its own. We seldom are in the same place at the same time. I think we prefer it that way.
I’m downstairs and it’s upstairs or I have no idea where it is. I hate to admit it but I could probably do without it.
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Thanks for stopping by!
Joan
ELGIN 56939 Does that ring a bell? (pun intended)
ReplyDeleteMy cellphone follows me around like a dog. :-)
I think this post is very timely - today I saw a movie called "Her" in which the protagonist falls in love with the voice on his phone's operating system! The movie was set in the not-too-distant future, but I can see elements of it being true today, since many people seem more attached to their phones than they do to humans.
ReplyDelete