We recently got new cell phones-the old ones were failing, so it was time. But, these are very different from what I was used to. They are more like tiny computers. In fact, I’m using it right now to write this blog.
When we were at the movies the other day, I noticed the ammended reminder signs to turn off our cell phones. Now it included the advisory against texting during the film. Two weeks ago, I would have thought this warning was silly…
All of this has gotten me thinking about change.
As a kid, I remember carrying a dime for the fabled emergency call I was told to always be prepared to make. I wore a backpack stocked with all my cassette tapes, and strapped on a walk-man that weighed like ten pounds, so I could have my tunes with me. (If you’re wondering where my schoolbooks were, don’t worry, they were safe in my locker.) Heaven forbid if my backpack got left in the car on a hot day–my tapes would sound warped and squeaky the next time I listened.
My daughter has an iPod that holds some two-thousand songs and slips neatly into her jacket, or jeans. She has no idea how amazing that is! And since we’ve gotten rid of cable, and only watch Netflix, my kids have no idea what anguish it was to wait for a repeat of favorite show just to miss it and hope against hope they’d run it a third time. Shush, don’t tell, but when I first started watching TV there were still black and white shows on! Or maybe it was because our first TV was a tiny black and white?
So, where am I going with all this? I was just imagining a time traveler from only fifty years ago popping in on our civilization and being in awe about the advances we’ve made, the ability we have to communicate so easily with one another, and to ask where in the world all the pay phones went to.
And it all makes me wonder just which things around me I’m taking for granted.