Why is the Phone Ringing?
One of my favorite things my wife (who married me for who knows what reasons) does is host an annual technology museum in her school library. The idea is to bring artifacts from the past to the kids of the present with the aim of showing how earlier innovations solved real problems and to inspire them that new problems will require innovative solutions.
It also turns out you wouldn’t believe what some people have saved in their basements and are delighted to haul into town in the backs of their pick-up trucks.
Ataris. Rotary phones. Walkmen. Phonographs. Discmen.
You’re seeing those words and either thinking “That was not that long ago” or “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The best is when the first graders find the rotary phone. They’re flummoxed by it and don’t know how to make or receive a call. After all, no one knows anyone’s phone number anymore. Are they supposed to dial their contact’s name based on the letters by the numbers?
And God forbid the phone actually rings.
It doesn’t tell them who is calling. Should they answer? Why is it ringing instead of buzzing? Or blinking? Or playing “Hot in Herre” by Nelly.
Talking about this with my lovely wife, we realized that we both used to make and take phone calls without knowing who might be on the other line.
For example, if you liked a girl (or guy) in high school way back then, you might get her (or his) number and call it only to have her (or his) dad (or mom) pick up. I don’t think that happens anymore, but being in that situation teaches some skills that, at the risk of being an old man yelling at clouds, kids these days don’t seem to have…for better or for worse.
That’s the thing about technological advancement. We lose as we gain. We’re better off in some ways and not in others. Nobody rings doorbells anymore and I don’t pick up calls from numbers I don’t recognize.
In some ways, I love that. But I also realize that neither I nor Doug – today – would have picked up that phone.
– Tim
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