This New Age We Live In
@just4him (305417)
Green Bay, Wisconsin
April 28, 2016 9:33pm CST
It might seem strange to some of you who have only been around only a couple decades that there was a time when you could only do one thing with a phone - talk on it. You couldn't text anyone. You couldn't carry it around in your hip pocket or purse. You couldn't ask it questions or have it look something up for you. You couldn't even have it give you directions. You couldn't even take it out of the house. It was attached to the wall and was called a LANDLINE.
People came to the house to hook up your phone and there was an installation charge and they brought you your phone. You didn't choose it from a store like you do now. Though that advancement did start to happen about forty years ago. Even before I was born there was another type of phone that you used a crank and got an operator to get you connected with other people. That was slightly before my time, and maybe there are people here who even remember that phone, but since I'm not sure how old that one is, I might be doing a disservice to those older than me. I just remember that on the television show Lassie, they had those kinds of phones.
The earliest phone I remember had party lines. If you wanted to call someone, you had to make certain the line was clear before you called anyone. With a party line there was a certain ring that was your ring when the phone rang.
Today however, you can do everything with a phone and you don't even need to talk to anyone on it. I see people all the time with their phone in their hands, scanning messages, looking for things to do, or just holding it like they were afraid of losing it.
Life doesn't stand still. We make advances in technology every day and one of these days you who know only this kind of technology will be writing a post similar to this and telling people younger than you all about this out of date technology.
So what is waiting around the corning for us? Who knows, but I'm sure it will be exciting.
Thanks for reading.
16 people like this
16 responses
@Juliaacv (48251)
• Canada
29 Apr 16
I grew up in the country and we had a party line. I remember our ring was one long and one short. And my Gramma's phone, she lived in the little house on the farm beside us, was one long ring and two short ones. I can remember her talking to her sister in law for an hour once a week, and then feeling bad in case anyone else wanted the phone, but nobody would begrudge her that time with her.
I wonder what is the next big thing to come, I guess the cars that drive themselves.
5 people like this
@just4him (305417)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Apr 16
I don't remember our ring, though I think it was three short ones. That always seems to come to mind.
@just4him (305417)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Apr 16
@marlina I'm actually excited about cars that drive themselves. There was an episode on Eureka once with self driven cars, and yes, they had problems, but that was because they were controlled by some kind of technology within the city, but I think once we get all the kinks worked out of them, they'll be great.
@annierose (18926)
• Philippines
13 May 16
This is a wonderful way of narrating how our medium for communication developed through the years. I asked my mom once if this different type of gadgets ever crossed her mind before and she said, she have never imagined that technology will be that so powerf ul in today's age. And now, your post makes me wonder what will be the technology like in the future.
1 person likes this
@just4him (305417)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
13 May 16
It is something to think about. Especially when someone tells you they saw something you use all the time in an antique store. I had that happen to me a few years ago. They saw a typewriter in an antique store and that's what I grew up with. Now of course it's the computer. Makes me wonder if the computer will one day be in an antique store.
1 person likes this
@annierose (18926)
• Philippines
14 May 16
@just4him We never can tell. With this fast revolution of technology, that is not impossible to happen. When I went to the hospital yesterday, I was also surprised by their device to measure my body temperature. They have this device that they just place on my forehead and it automatically showed my body temperature. It was very unlikely before where this hospital used thermometer.
1 person likes this
@just4him (305417)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
14 May 16
@annierose I've seen that before.
1 person likes this
@pgiblett (6524)
• Canada
29 Apr 16
I remember a party line, my Grandma had one - often if we tried to call we could not get through (even though her phone was not being used) and when we were at her house and picked up the telephone the next door neighbour would be chatting away (looking back it would have been the ideal time to pull out a mobile phone to call for a taxi). It is truly amazing what we have done with Canada's greatest invention over the years.
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
29 Apr 16
Yes we certainly have seen a lot of changes in the way we use the telephone and the telephone both is obsolete.
2 people like this
@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
29 Apr 16
Indeed, am sure we will be surprised with whats to come
1 person likes this
@just4him (305417)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Apr 16
@Drosophila Oh No! Not them! 
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
29 Apr 16
I´m am not so sure that all about technology is exciting. We have grown addicted to all this and thus have become slaves of machines. Why am I not in bed?
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
30 Apr 16
@just4him Lifeused to be full of different things then
1 person likes this
@just4him (305417)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Apr 16
@marguicha Yes it was. Communication was also face to face, over the fence and we knew our neighbors. Life has changed so much, we don't even trust our neighbors anymore, let alone know them or their names.
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
29 Apr 16
my mom was a telephone operator at one point, switchboard? whatever it was called.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
30 Apr 16
@just4him nope, I missed that show, did look like a fun job. but prob boring over time
1 person likes this
@just4him (305417)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Apr 16
@Jessicalynnt Sorry you missed it. It was a fun show. I'm sure any job like that would be boring over time.
1 person likes this
@mom210 (9037)
• United States
29 Apr 16
I still live in those old days, I have a landline. My cell only lets me talk, I have no need to be as available as a smart phone would let me. I do not need to do all those things and last but not least, I am way to cheap to pay for that convenience. I do remember talking on a phone with a party line, waiting for the line to be clear to make a call.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
12 May 16
I have a cell phone for safety sake, it's nice when I am out doing my running in case something happens to the car and such. But we still have a landline at home, I guess I'm just old school.
1 person likes this
@mininifty (38)
• Belmont, Michigan
29 Apr 16
I have recently been thinking and writing (and occasionally reading) about the most recent changes in technology. I love how everything seems to be becoming digital; I always used the term "Nifty Digit Nation", a coinage of mine, to describe what we are becoming technologically. A lot of today's technology is unbelievably nifty, and it's pretty much all digital, so we're becoming a Nifty Digit Nation! Everyone online could theoretically be thought of as one nation, since a lot of the Internet has no nation boundaries; after all, the Web is the WWW! So the entire Web is one big Nifty Digit Nation! I encourage all of you who like this phrase to start using it; I hope to hear a famous businessman or Internet marketer say it at least once between now and 2025; say it with me; together we stand in the Nifty Digit Nation! But back to phones; I'm an NDN child; there was already an Internet in 1997 when I was born, but cell phones seemed to mostly be just phones even in 2002! The browser stuff was starting, but it wasn't used as often as it is now! But I know about party lines; at one point (and there is still a culture of these out there) there were these party lines you could call into, and you could chat with other people. There were these different party rooms, sometimes they had a theme, and people could call in and chat with other people in the party rooms. They would have intros, like "Welcome to room 1380, the Music Board!" These still exist, but I don't think they're quite as popular. In some cases they were like the early version of dating sites, but they weren't all about dating; for example, I don't use them for dating, and if I ever called a chat line that was a dating site it was just for research. But more people seem to be using the Web instead of the phone chat lines, and even the phone chat lines these days are computer operated; welcome to the Nifty Digit Nation!
1 person likes this
@just4him (305417)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Apr 16
@mininifty I'm glad you like that the thread was started. That makes me happy. It makes me happy knowing I'm contributing pennies to your bank.
1 person likes this
@just4him (305417)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Apr 16
Interesting. I remember hearing about those party lines, but that's not the party line I was referring to. Back when I was just starting out everybody in a neighborhood was on one party line. To answer your phone you had to listen for your particular ring. If you wanted to call someone you had to listen first to make certain there wasn't anyone on the line. If there was and it was an emergency, you could ask them if you could have the line because you needed to call the doctor, hospital, fire department and they would give you the line. Otherwise you just waited until the line was clear to make your call.
1 person likes this
@mininifty (38)
• Belmont, Michigan
30 Apr 16
@just4him I think I knew what you were talking about; I was just making a comparison. But we truly live in a nation of nifty! I mean, the fact that people are making money via social media platforms is living proof! Maybe I'll be a social media moneymaker! I heard this site can help! I love this new age, and I feel that joining this site is part of it, and I'm glad this thread was started!
1 person likes this
@Teep11 (7674)
• United States
29 Apr 16
Things are continuously changing. Technology advances everyday. As soon as one phone comes out another is right behind it. Cell phones are like mini computers and they can do some amazing things. We've come a long way where technology is concerned.
1 person likes this
