Landlines, Cell Phones: Technological Advances

When I walked onto the Winthrop University campus in 2002 in a bid to pursue graduate studies, I was struck by the ubiquitousness of cell phones; students, walking like zombies past their fellow man, imparted such gems as "Nothing, what are you doing?" Or "I'm on my way to biology class, I hope she doesn't give us a pop quiz."

Of course, I too, have a cell phone, and all I can say is "You've come a long way, baby!"

Sure, I carry on my share of mundane conversations, but just the other day when I had car trouble I was able to call someone I trust for help without getting out of my car. No trekking to the nearest house to use a landline phone, or hoping the person who stopped to offer assistance would be someone nice instead of a weirdo.

I was Party to a Party Line

Yes, you've come a long way, baby. If you remember that slogan, you might remember party lines. My granny, who lived in the country, still had a party line in the early 1970s, which meant she shared a phone line with someone else. By the way the phone rang, my granny could tell if the call was for her or a neighbor. If it was for the neighbor, she didn't pick up.

Her grandchildren, though, weren't so conscientious. Upon hearing the neighbor's ring, some of us would sneak and pick up the phone. We never could stifle our giggles or the sound of our breathing and inevitably the neighbor would say something like, "Well, Mabel, I can see Nell's grand youngn's aren't going to let us talk, so I'll call you back later when we can have some privacy."

Then, there were no computers, DVDs or video games for entertainment. Kids watched "The Price is Right" and made prank telephone calls. We didn't worry about caller ID because nobody had it, nor did we have to block our numbers to keep the people we were bugging from discovering our identity.

Once, when our parents were out of the house and some friends were visiting, we played on the phone one too many times and the operator temporarily cut off service--a clear indication of just how irritating and stupid we were. We pleaded with the operator to turn the phone back on and she agreed, after making us promise not to do it again.

Hey, Baby, I'm the Telephone Man!

I've heard that a couple of cousins who were diehard Beatles fans used to call beer joints and ask if so-and so was there. They would describe one of the Fab Four to the hapless bartender, and of course the guys were never there!

When my mother learned to tabulate in a high school typing class, she and her sister conspired with a neighbor to call the neighbor's male acquaintance and ask "Can you tabulate?" He mistook the word for a sexual term and replied enthusiastically, "I sure can!" Now that was one call that was probably more of a thrill than an irritant for the recipient.