I just used my iPhone to scan a receipt so I could e-mail it to our homeowners\u2019 association for reimbursement. That\u2019s just one of almost countless things I do with my phone every day\u2026 phones are becoming pretty much constant companions and we use them constantly \u2014 and hardly ever to make phone calls.<\/p>\n
I remember when I was a kid not having a phone (they were called \u2018telephones\u2019 back then.) It wasn\u2019t that we were poor or lived out in the sticks somewhere, almost no one in the part of Oklahoma that I grew up in had a telephone \u2014 including the businesses.<\/p>\n
I remember when we got our first phone\/telephone. It was black and heavy. It didn\u2019t have a dial, even though it was shaped like the old dial telephones \u2014 where the dial would have been was just a small circle with our phone number written in it\u2026 I\u2019m pretty sure our phone number was 42, or maybe 47 \u2014 but it was only two digits. The phone didn\u2019t have the fancy spiral cords that became popular later \u2014 it just had a long black (cloth covered) wire attaching the handset to the base. If you wanted to make a phone call, you just picked up the handset and an operator would answer with the phrase \u201cnumber, please.\u201d But the operator in Maysville always knew everyone and usually called you by name. If the phone rang, you waited to see if it was for you\u2026 you could tell by the number of long and short \u201crings.\u201d I don\u2019t know of anyone that had a private line \u2014 everyone had to share their line with someone else.<\/p>\n
I remember getting a dial phone \u2014 it looked just like the old phone except the little circle in the middle was replaced by a dial. It was still black. When we got a dial phone our phone number changed to four (!!!!) digits. But the last two digits didn\u2019t work and it didn\u2019t matter if you used them when you dialed or not. Only the first two digits counted and they were the same two digits you had when you didn\u2019t have to dial your phone. Of course everyone was all upset\u2026 now everyone had to remember people\u2019s phone numbers (or look them up in something new that came along, called a phone book.) People just couldn\u2019t believe it was now necessary to remember two numbers if you wanted to talk to someone on the telephone.<\/p>\n
I remember leaving home after finishing high school and the phone in our house had progressed to a phone on the wall in the kitchen \u2014 still with a dial, but I think it was white, not black. And the four digits had acquired a letter prefix\u2026 I think ours was UN-xxxx. Of course you didn\u2019t have to \u201cdial\u201d the UN, or even all four digits most of the time.<\/p>\n
I remember my first \u201cpush button\u201d phone \u2014 no more dials, just push a button and you didn\u2019t hear all that interrupted dial tone that you did when using a dial phone \u2014 just a different tone for each button you hit. Some people were clever and learned to play simple tunes using the buttons on the phone.<\/p>\n
I remember our first cordless phone. We were living in Vienna at the time and I bought a cordless phone at Radio Shack for Claire\u2019s birthday. I don\u2019t think Claire particularly wanted a cordless phone, but the one we had on the wall in the kitchen had a cord long enough to reach almost all over the house. Claire used to tour the house when she was on the phone \u2014 she\u2019d just tuck the phone between her ear and shoulder somehow and that kept both hands free as she went about her business. I never did figure out how she did that\u2026. Anyhow, the cord would often knock things off the cabinets or stove and fairly regularly strangle me if I happened to be at the kitchen table. So I figured the solution was a cordless phone. It worked pretty well, but suffered from interference some of the time, but here we were one of the pioneers moving into the future.<\/p>\n
I remember our first portable or \u201ccell\u201d phone. It came in a bag and sat on the floor of Claire\u2019s van between the drivers and passenger seat. It had a handset just like a home phone and it had a cord\u2026 just like a home phone. And it was black. But it worked well and we could make (and receive) calls when we were on the road or at one of the kids activities, like ball games. Since there weren\u2019t many cell towers yet, there were a few \u201cdead\u201d spots, but again \u2014 here we were one of the pioneers charging into the future.<\/p>\n
I remember my first true \u201ccell\u201d phone \u2014 Claire gave it to me for father\u2019s day and when I called to activate it, the operator was almost excited as I was, so I\u2019m pretty sure once again we were leading the charge into the future \u2014 at least in Vienna. The phone was a \u201cflip\u201d phone that was popular for a number of years. Phones got smaller, but the basic design stayed the same\u2026 just flip open the phone to expose the screen and keyboard.<\/p>\n
I remember the first iPhone I got \u2014 it was an iPhone 4. Claire didn\u2019t get one, she just upgraded her \u201cflip\u201d phone. Her first iPhone was a 4S\u2026 and I got one at the same time.<\/p>\n
I still remember all my experiences with telephones over the years\u2026 I remember a lot of things, but I don\u2019t remember how I ever got along without an iPhone\u2026.
\n\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I just used my iPhone to scan a receipt so I could e-mail it to our homeowners\u2019 association for reimbursement. That\u2019s just one of almost countless things I do with my phone every day\u2026 phones are becoming pretty much constant … Continue reading