Phones
So many things have changed about telephones since I was growing up.
I watched a girl yesterday walking across campus while talking on her cell phone...well, not really talking....she was yelling at the person on the other end. She seemed oblivious to others listening to her yelling. This wouldn't have happened when I was growing up.
Our only phone in our house was a big black dial phone on the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. It had the shortest cord ever and my dad didn't like for us to stretch the cord. You could not have a private conversation on that phone unless you were the only one home. My dad often answered it, "Joe's Bar and Grill". Many of my friends hung up with that answer.
Where was the phone in your house growing up?
And tell me of situation with a cell phone, like mine yesterday, that wouldn't have happened before cell phones.
posted by julie @ 6:34 AM
6 Comments:
My son asked if his friend could come over on Saturday and as soon as I said yes, he was texting them. Our kids have a smaller concept of waiting than we ever did.
There were two phones in my house: kitchen and Mom & Dad's room. They invested in the long chord which I would stretch out the kitchen slider into the back yard for privacy.
We had a phone upstairs in the hall and one downstairs in the porch/laundry room. No one ever thought about privacy.
I hate to be be in a stall in a public rest room and hear the person in the next stall talking to me, "Hey, what you doing? You OK?" It always takes me a few minutes to realize they're talking on the phone and not to me. It seems a bit rude to be talking on the phone while using the toilet.
We had an old-fashioned phone in the kitchen (my friends would always ask, "Does that phone work?"). My parents later let me take that phone to our college house, where we got the same question!
Getting our own phone line was a BIG deal for my sister and me - now it seems almost taken for granted by so many kids. And I second the public restroom situation. It just doesn't seem right to me.
Ours hung in the kitchen and looked exactly as you describe yours looked. We had a party line and it was always fun to listen in although if my mom caught us she got mad. My aunt still has a big red dial up phone in her kitchen and she still uses it!!
Last night Geoff and I were out to dinner and noticed several different tables that had one person on the phone as everyone else sat there waiting on them. That would have never happened before cell phones.
Ours hung in the kitchen as well, but I didn't talk on it very often because mom kept her change locked up and I never had my own dimes until I got a job throwing papers around the neighborhood which had too many hills and I was always tired from the walking and then school and then the walking home and I would forget my homework and the teacher would give me a bad grade and I would get grounded from using the phone which I never used anyway because my mom kept her change locked up and I never had my own dimes until I got a job...
I heard a podcast last week about the manners, or the lack thereof, of using a cell phone while in a public restroom. Why is this even a question?
Hey Julie! Catching up on old blogs...
my family had a big, orange phone in our kitchen. It had a long cord that could enable you to stand at the kitchen counter and work while on the phone. Pretty great! When I was older, we switched it out for one of those early cordless phones - big and chunky with an insanely long antenna. At that point we also added one upstairs in my parents office.
Now, I think my parents have 5 phones in the house. All one line though. They never wanted to have multiple lines going - even when my sister and I were teens.
Now, my husband and I have 2 cell phones and that's it. We use skype for long distance calls. We still can't fathom that we can call between the UK and the US for FREE!!! Crazy. But our rule is to never answer a call when in a meeting or appt with someone else. They can leave a message and we can call back. :)
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