What did the world do before cell phones?
Filed in Phone Cell on Mar.09, 2010
I walk down the street. At least every other person is on a cell phone. Those that aren’t, have one clipped on their waist. I walk through the mall, airport, restaurants, etc. People are all on the cell phones. You pull up next to another car at a stop light and turn to see the driver…….on his or her cell phone.
Did we really miss this many phone calls prior to cell phones being invented? Or are we as a society totally overcommunicating now that we have them?
March 9th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
How could we miss what we had never had before? It was perfectly normal to go a whole day without phoning your best friend to tell them that you were were walking down a street or that you had just fed the cat.
Phone calls were important then – we used telephones connected to walls in our homes and offices or in public phone boxes. When someone called it was nearly always to tell you something that was worth taking note of, rather than the mindless chatter that most people now seem to spew out when using a cell phone.
In those days you could eat in a restaurant or travel on a bus or train without being treated to a lurid description of someone’s gall bladder operation or latest date from the nearby inconsiderate idiot with the cell phone clamped to his/her ear.
There are instances of kids as young as 4 owning a cell phone – WHY? who do they need to call? their friend the other side of the playground? their stockbroker?
I have a very useful cell phone – it has several very useful features on it:-
1. it has a torch light built in
2. it has an OFF switch
I use both of these features far more than I actually talk or text – and hey… guess what?… my World hasn’t come crashing down on me, I don’t feel isolated from the rest of society and best of all I get to decide when I want to hear about someone’s gall bladder operation rather than having some fool interrupt my work or lunch to tell me.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
PAGERS ma bell letters
March 9th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
We sent smoke signals when I was young
March 9th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
We waited at home by the phone because we couldn’t afford answering machines. LOL
March 9th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Pagers.
March 9th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
mail
March 9th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
run like phidiphidis
March 9th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Two tins and a bit of string and then pagers then mobile phones that looked like bricks
March 9th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
I don’t know. I can’t imagine life without cell phone. I myself wonder how can anyone live without one.
I just can’t imagine, how people use to live without it. Its Impossible !!
March 9th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
It used to be nice that sometimes you couldn’t be contacted,you could be oblivious to any bad news awaiting you, until you got home,happy days
March 9th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
it s called “technology” ma aaaaaaam
ps: you look pretty if it s you though lolol
March 9th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
We had lives, you still can if you refuse to carry one. It’s not so much communication as verbal masturbation.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
I think people are pacing themselves to fast these days and the phone is just a boredom killing device. People need to be more introspective, rather than being a communication conduit.
March 9th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
We’re not overcommunicating (Which I don’t believe is ever possible to have too much communication). Our technology has advanced leaps and bounds over recent history, giving us more options and solutions in order to be more productive in our lives, and to make every day life more convenient.
The kids in highschool on their cell phones use them as a ‘fad’ .. to be cool … but there are so many real life and business situations where the cell phone has improved our lives immensly
March 9th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Very good point. When I was a teenager the cell phone had yet to be on the market. We of course did not know what we were missing so we had more face to face contact.
March 9th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
It just enhances speedy communication and allows us to do more things at one time. Like if you’re out of country for a convention, you can chat with your mom at home over the phone, or just catching with up with a friend who has moved away.
It’s a matter of getting used to things. Last time, we were pretty fine with snail mail , and the good ol pen and paper, the pager beeping and looking for public phone to reply to the pager call.
March 9th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
your right! i wish i didn’t have one! but my husband is in the military so i need it, but if he wasn’t i wouldn’t even own one, i hate it when your talking to somebody and they HAVE to take the call, what is so important? or when your at a restaurant and somebody picks up there cell and starts chatting away, its so rude! i have a friend that i don’t go visit anymore because she’s ALWAYS on her cellphone when i’m over there! and its not just me she does the same thing with everyone!
March 9th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Overcummunicating… I have never had a cell phone and i don’t miss anything. People just have them because they think it looks “proffesional.” Others have them because their friends at school all have them so they think they’re missing something without one.
Seriously i’ve overheard conversations where people have said, “i’m opening the door, now i’m going in the room.” Or “yes i’m eating dinner. Oh it’s a salad.” Now that hardly sounds like necessary phone calls. People just use their phones more often now, simply because they can.
March 9th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
I would say we really did not miss them, because they didn’t exist…..you know all this technology is supposed to save us time, but i gotta say….i have less time on my hands now with all these gadgets, because people can reach me at anytime…..
This “need to know” state of mind that we are in is killing us for goodness sake….is it really necessary to have a conversation on the bus, about being on the bus, and what stop you are at…..is it really necessary to be in a club and have a conversation about being in the club and what drink you just ordered and who you danced with…..i can go on and on……
Yes, we are definitely overcommunicating *sigh*
March 9th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Seeing each other!
March 9th, 2010 at 11:10 pm
What I Believe They Did,Was They Wrote A Letter/Note,And Put It Inside A Ballon And Sent It To Whoever Got It.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
while on the road, we had to pull into the nearest 7-11….and at home we sit and wait for the phone to ring…and then came the pages….we check it every 5 minutes…no see if we missed something….gosshhh…I/ve seen a homeless guy the other day…no shoes on, but he carried a cellphone…now that real American…lol
March 9th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
I think it’s like clothing.
Before man used clothes, he was simply naked.
There was nothing bad in this, but with clothes it’s much better.It’s the same with the cell phones.
March 10th, 2010 at 12:28 am
I’m starting to hate cell phones now.
I wish someone would make a phone which cant call
March 10th, 2010 at 1:22 am
Im so over this whole cell phone thing. I was at a Broadway play in NY and someones damn cellphone went off and they had the nerve to answer it DURING THE PLAY! Helloooo, I mean seriously its just so sad now. I did have a cellphone for like 7 years and then when I changed me job I lost the one from the company and still havent gotten one since and it has been over a year now and I just love not having it. No more random drunken phone calls @ 2am from friends, no more constantly checking my vcmail and texting and spending hundreds a month just to jabber about nothing.
Obviously doctors and people within that profession will always have to be at the hospital beck and call but damn do we really need to jabber all the time. And now with businessess they give you the cell phone so that they can stay in contact all the time, but are we really getting the short end of the stick on this? My hours are from 8-5 everyday and I dont want my business or co-workers calling me when I get off to ask me a dumb question or tlak about something. I dont get paid enough for it!
This whole cell phone addiction is pathetic! Im sry that I was ever sucked into it.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:06 am
One of the things we did before cell phones was being able to write REAL words instead of all this rubbish texting language which has evolved in the pursuit of saving money on text messaging. In those days, we STILL managed to live perfectly adequate lives without having a phone glued to one ear all the time and therefore had less distraction.
As this question has obviously originated in USA (use of the words “Cell phones” is a give-away) please note that in GB it is against the law to use a mobile phone whilst driving.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:21 am
People held their hands over their ears and laughed insanely.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:33 am
We moved at a slower pace. We didn’t miss the phone calls because we had more face to face conversations and more was said that way. Body language is a great communication method. As for are we over communicating I think more trivial information is being passed on now. But it’s now a necessity for business people and especially the sales force. They can now reach more contacts in an hour then they could all day before this tool came along. If you see it as a tool and use it as such it’s a great thing. If you see it as a wireless home phone then your home is wherever you are. Proper cell phone etiquette should always be used in public places. I’ve worked in the cellular industry for over 15 years and seeing someone with one of them in use is good for me, but I also think is it really necessary. Do we really need to be in contact with someone any time at any place. Have you ever sat at a stop light and looked at the faces of the people turning left from the other direction? Some of them are on the phone and others have a nasty face on, yet others have a smile on their faces. It’s a good day to be alive.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:59 am
Cell phones are lovely things to have in an emergency situation, like when you’re in a car accident or you’re late for an important meeting or something…my larger problem with them and all of the new technology that has emerged in the last decade is that …
As a society we now “over communicate” and say absolutely nothing.
As a species we have evolved over the last few millenia to “communicate” with our entire being. We can say more with a glance or a slight shift in our movements than we can ever say just using speech or text messaging.
It is the nuance of our personalities that can tell people if we are happy, sad, angry or pensive. Talk is cheap…cause actions speak louder than words, right? We all know the people in our lives…and we know them because we can “read them” we don’t need to hear them talk or see text messages flash across a screen…all we have to do is “see them” and we know if they are okay or not.
The more technology gives us the “freedom” to remove ourselves from physical contact with others, the more we will continue to loose a part of ourselves.
March 10th, 2010 at 3:50 am
Drop a dime, or in the latter years, a quarter.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:33 am
I think a lot of people use the phone to just gab about nothing. My cell phone IS my phone so I certainly use it for gabbing but if I’m in my car, I’m only using my cell phone to briefly tell someone where I am or that I’m running late or something necessary like that. Life before cell phones sucked because you had to rely on pay phones and it really gets under my skin when I don’t know where someone is and I can’t get a hold of them so a cell phone is a great way for me to keep up to date on why the hell someone is late, etc. Basically they relieve me of my weird OCD symptoms.
March 10th, 2010 at 5:20 am
I was quite happy using two soup cans connected by a long piece of string. It worked when I was a kid. There were no blackout periods and the rates were reasonable. When I leave the house I take a toy cell phone and talk on it just to look like I have something to say. It makes me look like I am in demand, and that the rest of the world can’t be out of contact with me for even a moment. Well, I have to run. I’ll call you back on my cell phone, if I can get my daughter’s gum off the receiver. She thinks it’s her toy phone.
March 10th, 2010 at 5:21 am
and old people (HELLO? HELLO?)
and little kids too, “Whose pink razor phone is this?”
I just disconnected mine. I feel like I’m going against the laws of nature. . .
March 10th, 2010 at 5:54 am
Before cell phones we used pay phones and that is why they have gone up in price as have long distance charges and home phone prices.
It is just like the internet and text messaging doing away with the post office and causing stamps to rise in cost.
When if ever did you send a telegram?
The times they change and as they change new modes of communication replace old ones.
Have you priced an lp lately. Soon video tape will be the same thing. Magazines and Newspapers are getting more expensive.
It all has to do with innovation and convenience.
And yes if you go far enough back in time we did miss all these calls because there was no call waiting, no answering machines, and no voice mail. Oh wait that was the seventies.
March 10th, 2010 at 6:50 am
- Our bumper stickers now: “Hang up and drive!” then: “If you’re doing your make-up again, by the time you read this, it’ll be too late!”
- The emergency that makes us turn around and go back home now: forgetting our phones. then: forgot to feed the dog, left the stove on, forgot the kids’ school lunches, forgot the kids, left the Elton John 8-track in the home player the size of a Buick
- Bumping into an aquaintance on the street now: “I’ll call you in a minute.” then: the kids left in the car waiting and honking and hanging out the windows making desperate, overexaggerated death impersonations
- Pulling up to the car next to you at a stop light now: if you don’t notice the hands-free, you’d swear they need to be committed. then: someone’s always making out or beating their kids.
- Now we have e-mail, IM, faxes, and cell phones; then we had US Mail, passed notes and wrote love letters, Atari 2600, read magazines or books, for entertainment even!, and made appointments to discuss important business and personal matters over a communication device with this swirly cord attatched to it and when it rang, the whole neighborhood knew it.
With all this technology, are we really more connected to each other, or less?
March 10th, 2010 at 7:05 am
i think they used pay phones
March 10th, 2010 at 7:54 am
We saved up our news until there was enough of it to make a meaningful connection with people. Now we call to say we’re leaving work, call to say we’re stuck in traffic, call to say we’re nearly there, call to say we’re at the doorstep, get home, say hi and call the office to say all the things we’ve been thinking about on the way home, which would wait, but shouldn’t, since we have a phone and can get them started now.
We also made decisions, and to hell with the consequences. Heard some comedian a couple of days ago, saying “We used to dream about Star Trek technology, the communicator, remember that? Well now we have them, but we’re not going ‘Oh my God, I’ve found a new form of life on a remote planet, Scotty beam me up!’…We’re standing in Wal-Mart calling home to say ‘They’re out of Count Chocula…will Cheerios do?’”