I like having a smartphone. It’s nice to get a call in line at Target and know that I don’t have to answer because it’s just my nosy neighbor wanting to tell me that my son is out…
Remember the olden days, when all you had to do with a phone was answer it? It was colorful – avocado green, gold, red or black – with a spiral cord attaching the receiver to the base. It hung on the wall or sat on a cabinet.
If you were expecting an important call, you were often frustrated, because someone else in the household would be using the phone to discuss that week’s episode of “The Jeffersons.” At length. The advent of answering machines made this easier because you could just screen the call, and if it was your drunken neighbor telling you he lost his key and could he sleep on your sofa, you could just go back to sleep.
Of course, you had to remember to turn the answering machine on, and occasionally change the tape. I once wrote an entire play that took place on an answering machine, back when I mistakenly thought I could write plays. Then everyone got voicemail, which was useful except you had to remember a lot of codes and stuff. “OK, which was the code to save that message? Oh, oops. I guess that one just erased it.”
Then, of course, everyone got mobile phones and, eventually, started using texting as a primary source of communication. I have a few friends who don’t text, but I never talk to them. Because they don’t text.
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