When I was a kid, we didn't have a phone. Most people didn't. Maybe, there was a store nearby that one could go to, in an emergency, to use a phone. Then there were the days when there were"party lines". No, this did not indicate nights of wild revelry with nicely shaped phones. Rather, it meant that a certain number of households would have a common line and number, so that a call would ring perhaps 6 or 7 houses. Believe it or not, some people used this primitive tech to eavesdrop on their neighbors discussions. Today we do this and call it a conference call.
I remember the days when a phone was never carried on one's person. There was a line that attached them to the wall and they were massive and heavy. They were even used to kill someone in old mysteries on the telly.
There were the phones that were mounted to the wall and one had to stand to talk. It didn't matter because we rarely talked on the phone. It was not used casually, because one didn't 'bother' people in a frivolous matter. This was before the days when telephone marketers actually made a living bothering people. Before laws were passed in congress to prevent this hobby etc.
Once upon a time, it was a status symbol of sorts if one had a phone of their own. Now the type of phone you have is a status symbol. For instance, the above-pictured flip phone would draw some giggles if pulled out in public and flipped open. Yet, it performed its base function of making a phone call when required. Sweettttt. Some newer phones can't even pick up a signal like the older ones.
People have been murdered over a cool phone. Thefts of I-Phones has been the most common type of crime in many cities. So common that developers installed a kill switch in many high end phones to make the theft useless to the thief. Of course, the 'find my phone' function is common.
When phones had to be plugged into the wall, my wife was on the cutting edge of technology by using an extra long cord so that she could go from room to room and talk. Talk while cooking supper, answering the door etc. When we built this house we had a phone jack installed in every room. A phone jack is a wall receptacle where the ancients could plug in a "portable phone". Yes, we even had the jacks in our bathrooms and people would talk to you while seated on the porcelain throne. A practice I find slightly abhorrent.
A friend of my wife was relating how her elderly mother waits to call her daughter every day while on the potty. The lady said, "Mother, please don't call me during this private time because when you grunt and groan, it bothers me." Sound effects.
I fought the cell phone thing for a while. Until a brand new vehicle broke down on us and we were stranded and no one wanted to let us use their phone. The next day we got a phone. Gee, I guess that may have been twenty years ago.
There were the satellite phones that guys took to Mt. Everest or whatever. Expensive and heavy, but potential life-savers and a cool factor of a zillion, at the time. Haven't heard much about them recently.
It's cool to watch old movies where the characters have no cell phones. I find myself muttering, "Just use your cell and call the cops!" Not.
Then came the era of spying with cell phones. By unscrupulous people, certainly, and even by parents on their own children, but mostly by governments. The era when certain phones are banned from cabinet meetings in countries around the world. When many people don't take cell phones to their bedroom. When people notice that their microphone on their phone has been turned on remotely by persons unknown. The era when a man becomes an international fugitive by telling about certain hobbys, shall we say, of certain agencies.
I even know of one silly blogger who harped on his desire for an I-Phone 5S, 16 Gig, Gold. He even went so far as to ask his imaginary friend, Tony Stark, to buy him one. Ha, ha.
$1000 is not unheard of for a normal person to pay for a phone. They are a wonder, though, with enough high-tech gadgets to make James Bond's mouth water, if they could have been transported to the days of Goldfinger and Thunderball.
We have commercials that get very graphic about the best system of cell phone towers in America. It is commonly believed that Verizon has the best signal for people like myself who live 'in the country'. Heck, when we lived on the mountain, there was no cell phone service. Terrifying to think about, I know.
My wife is currently aggravated with Verizon and is about to change to the Walmart Straight Talk plan. You get more stuff for much less money, I guess, and no contract. I overheard part of her discussion with Verizon. "You mean that I've been a customer of yours for twenty years and you want to extend my contract just because I changed my plan?"
Of course, we commoners want a cool phone without the big layout of cash, so we enter said contract. Naturally, we pay for the phone with a bigger monthly payment, so the end result is similar. I get that. But still, people like Dish Network and Verizon irritate folks and are headed for a fall. Dish loves to inch up their monthly bill until one is paying $150 a month for television. They think we have to have it. They want access to your bank account too. How did we ever get suckered into allowing some entity to pull funds from our account at a whim. At that moment, their need to please us seemed to vanish into the night sky. They knew they could get their money. So, to **** with the consumer. I know several people that just buy several DVDS every month and unplugged from the satellite. When they did, Dish got upset. "We have your bank account info and if you don't get the DVR back to us within so many days we will take so much money from your bank account".
Verizon, I hear at least, will fire some employees if they fail to sign up a certain number of customers every month. Don't you love it when billionaires bully people who are trying to put food on the table? Sure.
Well, think I have said enough, and probably more than enough for this morning. I will say that when I went to town the other day without my phone, I detected an odd anxiety along with a sense of freedom. Also, my jeans stayed up better, without that weight. So, there were no horror filled cries of "Crack sighting!" from the general populace.
From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
P.S. By the way. I heard of a man that was convicted for murder because his cell phone had pinged two towers in the vicinity of his ex-wife's house at a certain time. He had mistakenly thought that having his phone turned off would keep it from pinging the towers. Also, there was a news flash locally in which the cell companies reminded folks that those old phones stored in the closet could still be used by children to call 911, so keep them put up out of reach. So, phones with dead batteries and being non-activated are potentially usable to an extent?
The general paranoia over tech is pervasive here in the USA. Many people are beginning to 'unplug' from the internet. Some are going back to ancient phones that can't access the internet. Will that stop eavesdropping? I don't know that much about it. But I do know that perhaps Big Brother has shown part of his hand too soon, though it is well past 1984.
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