My Dad Had This Cell Phone Thing Figured Out
As a young lad I can remember riding in my Dad’s work pickup. He worked for a company, Northwestern Bell, that was part of a conglomerate of companies referred to as “baby bells.” Smaller phone companies that were owned and operated by AT &T.
Eventually it was determined that they all belonged to AT&T, and that they were a monopoly, and the baby bells were forced to break-up. Northwestern Bell used drab green as the color for their vehicles. Not sure why they picked that color of green. Nevertheless, I loved going with my Dad. He had about a 100 square mile territory in central North Dakota to patrol and it was fun going from town to town.
Days Of Land Lines
So, this was the day of land lines when every telephone had to be connected to a nearby NW Bell dial house (a routing center) by a physical land line, basically a solid copper wire that ran from pole to pole. Well, they started out as wires run pole to pole, but eventually those above ground lines were replaced with underground lines. The underground lines were a lot less maintenance. No poles getting struck by lightning or snapped because of ice storms. I vividly remember telling my Dad that this would be the wave of the future. Underground lines, one to every home, and every home would have their own telephone line. (We could talk about party lines, but that would take us back another generation.)
Setting Me Straight
My Dad had to agree that it would be convenient for every home to have an underground telephone line, but in his word “that isn’t the wave of the future.” So, what is I asked? He then told me about wireless phones, being fed a telephone signal from tall towers. Each person, not each household would have a portable phone. He said because of technology these phones would start fairly large and clumsy and evolve into smaller palm sized communication devices as technology advanced. This was before the Star Trek television show would introduce us to their “communicators”, so my Dad wasn’t privy to that information. I questioned his vision then, but I marvel about his vision today.
Cell Phones
Where is this story leading? Enter the Star Trek era, with communicators that looked a lot like the now ancient flip phones. They could talk to the ship. They provided a location for the ship to know where the person holding the device was located. Probably most amazing, they were able to provide a link to transport a human body to the mother ship. Amazing…
I need not bore you with the development of today’s modern cell phone devices. But, of course, I need to share a bit of a story.
Grandkids, of Course
First, I have to applaud my Dad. I am thinking it is 60 years ago when he shared his vision with me. Boy, was he dead on.
Second, as much as I try to recall, I don’t think he every shared a vision of a phone in your watch. One of my grandsons has a smart phone, the other has a smart watch. This weekend the grandson with the cell phone was asked to turn off his cell phone. OMG! Mom & Dad! Anything but that…
Third, the grandson with the smart watch figured out that he may as well just turn in his device to Mom and Dad for the weekend. It was interesting to hear my son explain to his son that someday he would enjoy not being bothered by phone calls and text messages. His son was not completely buying into his Dad’s advice. But none the less, his cell phone was turned off.
Last, and probably the point of this article, the Grandson with the smart phone asked what my Dad did for a living. Wow, now where do I start? Telephones, party lines, land lines, radio phones? We started to talk about what “great grandpa did” but were soon interrupted by a beckoned call to climb a local tree. The story about great grandpa, to be continued sometimes I guess.
Not A Visionary
As I thought about the weekend I also thought about where this whole, crazy cell phone lifestyle is going. I am certainly not a visionary like my Dad. I am, however, amazed by technology that allows you to answer your cell phone and communicate through ear buds. I, like most grandparents, tend to be frustrated with the inability of our grandkids to just put the phone down and communicate. A larger frustration is the tendency for kids to communicate with each other by text messages at the dinner table, or during family times, or in church. My Dad wasn’t able to see the negative side of a personal communication device, only the positive. You know, no wires, no phones on the walls or next to beds, the positive side of the advancement of cell phone technology.
What I Did Enjoy?
Ok, let’s be honest here. Once the cell phones were put away, the line of communication with my grandkids was much better. But I got to thinking that we, Grandma and BePa, are still communicating with our grandkids on their cell phones. We even fall into the trap of sending them a text. Good or bad? Not sure that I have the answer to that one folks. I just know that there is a whole new generation that has never had to deal with land lines, and telephones, and vehicles without phones. Like my Dad used to say, “sometimes we just don’t know about where the future is headed. We either accept or ignore.” Seems pretty simple- but is it really?
Best Kept Secrets
Fall on the local trails. All of the state parks and most of the local park systems have maintained trails. A great time for family adventure. The leaves will be turning soon, too soon actually. Plan a weekend excursion, and don’t forget your camera.
Today’s Chuckle
People these days don’t believe in long engagements. Half of them don’t believe in long marriages either.
