It happened when I was in high school, or maybe it was middle school (then called junior high).
My parents gave in and got their three daughters a green box phone, with push buttons. A step up from the old rotary dial. And it wasn't an extension phone. It was a phone with our very own number. And that was its real beauty.
When our friends called, we could cozy up, cuddle in, and enjoy our long lazy meandering calls. We no longer had the annoying interruption of our parents needing to use the phone.
Everyone knew every friend's phone number. Speed dialing didn't exist. And mobility only went as far as the length of the cord.
I miss those singularly-focused conversations.
- I never had to worry about hearing my friend suddenly say, "Do you have this in a size 8?" in the middle of our call.
- Or yell at some random driver who is taking up two spaces as she pulls into her local store.
- Or listen to what sounds like loud crashing as she unloads her dishwasher.
- Or hear huffing and puffing as she works out on her basement treadmill.
- Or peels a carrot that sounds like a piece of wood being sawed in half.
- Or know that the silence on the other end is my friend reading, or even answering, emails or texts.
- Or suddenly hanging up for a more important caller.
We are all guilty.
Modern life makes it difficult to do one thing at a time.
But still.
Amazon has this thing called add-ons.
They are not important enough to be bought alone, so you can buy them when you buy something else bigger, more substantial.
I don't want to be an add-on.
And it's not that I miss my old green phone.
But there is something nostalgic (and nice) about a phone having a single purpose, staying in one place, and requiring the same of its user.
My three sisters and I also got our own phone line. We clearly weren't as wealthy (spoiled?) as you and got an ugly black one. A PARTY LINE! Luckily the other party wasn't as talkative as we were so we were rarely inconvenienced. And while there was no shopping while we talked, there was often the sound of screaming as a sister yanked at hair trying to get possession of said phone! Not to mention the prayers that Debbie would answer the phone so you wouldn't have to talk to her mother who knew how to talk. And talk. And talk.
ReplyDeleteWho knew carrots could be so annoying :-)
ReplyDeleteMost annoying is that "silence on the other end" because it's pretty obvious the silence means the computer is getting the attention rather than the person on the other end; a real conversation-stopper!
ReplyDeleteSince the pandemic, I’ve been doing lots of Zoom calls with friends. Because they can see me on the screen, I find that I have stopped multitasking and instead actually sit and listen, like in the old days. Though, my mother had the LONGEST cord on the kitchen phone so that she could continue to clean around the house while she was on the phone.
ReplyDeleteI hated rotary dials!!
ReplyDeleteMe too! btw, cher326, do I know you? Can't tell from your name.
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