I Actually Picked Up The Phone And Called A Friend

For no particular reason, I actually picked up the phone, dialed a 10 digit number and called a friend the other day just to chat.  While we were speaking, we both marvelled at the fact that we never speak on the phone anymore.  We text, we use Blackberry messenger, we communicate via Facebook and we see each other in person.  In about 10 short years I have gone from a bit of a phone-aholic to hardly using a phone at all!

Hilariously the friend I called this week has a nickname in my family of "Telephone Katie" due to the fact that we used to talk on the phone so much.  Remember when Bell Canada used to have the $20 unlimited long distance phone plan?  And remember when they used to have a bubble at the top of your bill stating how much you saved that month in long distance charges?  Well when "Telephone Katie" and I were living in different locations (I have known Katie since childhood and we also went off to university together) for the summer after our second year of university, my Bell bill used to tell me that I was saving upwards of $800 a month!!

And an earlier memory has me thinking about the hours I used to spend talking to my grade eight boyfriend on the phone after school - lying on my back on my bed, head hanging over the side so I was sort of upside down, feet up on the wall.  Not going to lie, I always thought the lip shaped phone that DJ Tanner had on Full House was very cool.  And remember having another line?  I don't think anyone has that feature anymore as phone lines aren't nearly as tied up as they used to be.

Swatch phone!  Did you have a cool phone?

I got my first cell phone in my final year of university because with five girls in the house, the phone was never free!  Fast forward to 2013 and that house would have probably not even had a land line but five handheld devices and at least a few tablet computers.

So I'm trying to think about what my kids will do to connect with their peers for hours on end when they are teenagers....constant text messaging (doesn't seem nearly as fun as hours spent on the phone) or abundant use of Twitter?  Given that my oldest won't be a teenager for nine more years (which scares me to even type that as I know it will only feel like a nano second) and the amount that has changed in the world of technology over the last ten years, I am sure they will be using something that hasn't even been invented yet.

Photo credit

I have to say, long phone conversations coming back would be fine in my book - probably the easiest way for Mom and Dad to do a little investigation as to what is going on (I realize now that even with the door to my room shut, my parents could for sure here snippets of conversations without much effort)...much harder to get a glimpse at texts on a handheld device!  I feel like the phone call is the new hand written letter.  When I was a kid, when you got a gift from a Grandparent or other extended family member, we had to write them a thank you note.  Now the more formal way to thank someone would be to actually pick up the phone and call them to say thanks.  

And yes, writing this post has made me feel old because I have actual 'olden days' things to reminisce about and will be teaching my kids about things that they will only ever see in history books but were common place in my childhood!