They Were Called "Bricks"

In the beginning, there were car phones; they looked like phones, worked in cars and stayed in cars. You were an Important Person if you had one.

Then there were bag phones; phones in real vinyl bags. You carried them around like footballs with handles. The car phone equivalents were a little more stylish: you could carry them out of the vehicle and they looked more like bricks. You didn’t look quite so important, but you still were way ahead of your neighbors.

Then came cell phones, about the size of a cigarette carton, perhaps a bit smaller, and shrinking with every new model. The idea was to shout into them – not because people on the other end couldn’t hear you, but to make sure people on your end knew you had one. It was still a status symbol and people “used” them even if they did not work.

Now, it’s “What? You don’t have a cell phone? How do you get along without one? Suppose you’re not home and someone calls?” It’s called an answering machine and it takes messages. I have a cell; three people know my number and I told two of them not to bother calling because it’s on only when I am out late at night.

I don’t mind those who chat as they walk thru the campus. If someone were next to them, they’d talk. Just because that friend is on the other end of a phone makes no difference to me. I suspect we don’t like it because we can’t “listen in” to the conversation if we were behind an actual couple. Right? Huh? Right?