Phones Now and Then

I was on my way to work this morning when I realized I forgot my cell phone.  I feel so naked.  It hasn’t always been this way. 

Nowadays, cell phones are ubiquitous.  That hasn’t always been the case.  I grew up in the era when phones were attached to a wall in the living room or kitchen or sat on a small table.  Most homes in my town had but one phone.  There was a cord that limited your movement.  In my house, you had to stand during your conversation.  If you were having a long conversation, you may pause a moment and move a chair closer in order to sit.  It was a happy day when dad bought an extension cord that allowed us to sit in the chair or couch in the living room. 

Speed dial?  That depended on how quickly you could spin your finger around the dial when placing a call.  You hoped the number you called had low numbers.  7, 8, 9 and 0 took forever when you were in a hurry.  There was no redial on our rotary phone.  There was a dial and you were the redialer.  Why would you redial?  No one answered or you got a busy signal.  There was a time if you called someone who was on the phone, you heard a beeping tone which indicated the other line was off the hook.  Yes, off the hook actually meant the part of the phone you held to your head wasn’t resting on the mechanism that allowed inbound calls.

Call waiting started when I was in high school, but few had it.  It cost extra and most considered it a luxury that wasn’t need.  That was like having a microwave.  (I’ll have to write some time about my mom getting her first microwave.)  Speaking of costs, only local calls were free.  You paid by the minute for long distance calls.  Therefore, calls to family, who lived in Michigan, were limited to special occasions and emergencies. 

I remember the first time I had to call someone.  I don’t recall who it was or the reason for but I was quite nervous.  I was, perhaps, 6 or 7 years old.  Excitement filled me when the call was complete.  I also remember Community Bank in Canton had a phone number to get the time and temperature.  I would call that number multiple times to hear the temps go up during the day. 

It was a few years into my working life when cell phones first came out.  They were much bigger then.  They reminded me of some radios soldiers used in the Vietnam conflict.  I had a coworker who had a “car phone.”  The voice mail on his car phone said something like “I’m not out right now.  I’m in.  Leave a message.” 

Still, it was many more years before I actually used a cell phone.  I had a job at a hotel that housed airlines crews during layovers.  I was driving a crew to the airport when the hotel called me.  I had to ask one of the flight crew members to answer it for me.  I didn’t know how to answer it. 

Times have changed they continue to accelerate.  Looking back, I feel like I am an archaic man talking about horse and buggy days.  I will survive this day without my phone.  Not having my phone gives me time to write.