2 July 2018 Can You Live Without The Phone?

Can You Live Without The Phone?

I have seen the technology changes of phones over my life.  When we first moved to Indiana, the six houses at the end of our street all shared one phone number.  It was called a party line.  It rang in everyone’s home.  All our phones were attached to the wall and had a 6-foot cord on the headset.   

The next big upgrade came with the cordless phone.   You could walk around while you talked. It had an antenna you had to extend when you took it out of its cradle.  About this time, answering machines were introduced.  It was a small box attached between the wall connection and the phone cradle.  

In the late 80’s, portable phones started to show up.  They had battery packs, so it was something that usually stayed in your car. Battery technology improved in the 90’s to where the true personal phone was available.  It also came with the ability to send text messages.  It was clumsy because you had 3 options for letters on each key and most of the time you used your thumb.  Teenagers became very fast at working the keyboard.   

The iPhone was a ground-breaking item.  Now you could not only talk and text, but there were apps to do games. It also could play music.  Other companies followed suit with iPhone like devices.  Apps grew where you could buy and pay for stuff through the phone.  Taking photos was added.  Video communication became available. You could download and watch a movie.  Social media apps dominate some people’s lives.

Phones are so ingrained in the public that it is rare to see someone who does not have one.  If you watch any group of people, most will have their head down on the phone.  At restaurants, you see families at the table were the kids are on phones while the parents talk, or all are on phones.  People get phones for their young kids, some very young.  I guess they do it so they don’t have to interact. 

My phone is a convivence for me.  I am only on one social media app and that is rare.  I don’t play games on it.  I do use it to listen to audio books and podcasts.  If I forgot to take with me, I would not get upset.  I know how important it is to others and that is ok.  I do like the technology, it just does not dominate my life.