Over the holiday weekend, one of my relatives asked at least four times what we “all did before we had these damned cell phones” in our lives. This tickled me on a number of levels… I mean first was the “damn” on Easter… a quick dip into the pool of irony never hurt anyone – unless you go into the pool within the first 30 minutes after eating a meal – so that wasn’t too bad. But I was of two minds with the whole technology gripe.
Happy April Fool’s Day – can you actually tell the difference from any other day? I don’t think I can :)
Also, Happy Easter and Passover to all. Do you wish someone a “happy” Passover? I’m just a dumb Gentile, so I dunno – I have always wondered why only Christmas gets “Merry” while everything else gets “Happy”. What did we all do before Hallmark started their drive for global conquest? How on earth did we ever survive without Sweetest Day???
Over the holiday weekend, one of my relatives asked at least four times what we “all did before we had these damned cell phones” in our lives. This tickled me on a number of levels… I mean first was the “damn” on Easter… a quick dip into the pool of irony never hurt anyone – unless you go into the pool within the first 30 minutes after eating a meal – so that wasn’t too bad. But I was of two minds with the whole technology gripe.
What did we do without cell phones? Well, we had peace. We had the ability to disappear from our work place and our social lives. We didn’t have to listen to the loudmouthed asshole on the commuter trains, screaming into his headset that he can’t hear his wife’s request to stop at Big Y and pick up a carton of milk. On the other hand, there’s something really neat about the global communications system we’ve developed. Global? Yep. I mean my phone is, and yes I am forced overseas from time to time, so it is important to me. I can be in Hong Kong and someone dials my 203 number which rings around the global. It’s neat. Is there any other reason? Cosmic comedy. Over the last 12 months I’ve heard a number of funny stories about people getting caught singing in the car because their cell phone has dialed someone by accident. Or what about the classic: “Why not stop for directions?” while on a road trip. With services like web-based Mapquest.com and voice-based Pronto, that disappears. Hell, even Batman has OnStar – these lil communicators can’t be all bad… as with most technologies, you have to take the good with the bad – what did we do without them? Adjust. I just figure my relative was pissed that his wife called him on his third trip to the store to get more half-n-half.
So I see both sides. What I do want to know is did the families of the 1900’s have these same conversations? “What in the world did we do before indoor plumbing took over?”