[NTLK] OT: Cell phones

[Dan]

And I bet that unit had a lot more range.  I got my first in mid 1990's
(a small Motorola handset), worked well too.  Still have it in fact, but
it no longer works on todays networks.  But I only used it for
emergencies when traveling or such.  Never gave out the number at all.

I think when cell phones started popping up everywhere was in mid
2000's.  At that point you could go into a store and always see someone
yacking on their phone.  And people getting texts while waiting for a
traffic light to change or such.

The "new wave" happened shortly after Apple did their iPhone.  That
surged the phone everywhere.  Not just Apple but phones in general since
they were not connected to the Internet and 'had' to check email for
work all the time etc.  Now you are odd if you don't have one.  Heck
sites like Microsoft require you to put in your phone to get a security
code if your account ever gets locked.  They don't even GIVE the option
for just email verification now (which really BUGS me, I don't want to
pay for a text to verify an account THEY locked by mistake nor do I want
to give them my number I have enough junk coming though).

As a downside all this connectivity means you 'can't get away'.  Even if
you are home at 8pm if your boss can't get a hold of you, you might get
fired.  That didn't happen 15 or so years ago.  People would say "oh
they are out of the office right now, but I can take a message."  That
does NOT happen anymore. :(  People are more impatient than ever, and
they really get mad if they can't get a hold of you at the drop of a
hat.  Certainly a large downside to the cell phone age, something that
was suppose to give more free time but actually ends up eating it like a
starving man.

-Dan

On 12/31/2017 8:19 AM, Don Zahniser wrote:
> I got my first cell phone as a gift from my wife in about 1990 - It was a car installation with a floor-mount box with a regular phone-sized handset, and a separate, almost shoebox sized, trunk mount box. I continued to use it until 2008 after switching it to another vehicle in 2000. Using iStuff now...
> 
> --
> Don
> 
> On Dec 30, 2017, 3:40 PM -0500, Dennis Swaney
, wrote:
>> I got my first cell right after I saw an accident and had no way to report
>> it. We would move it from car to car. Then we got a second one for the
>> other car. I then got a Motorola flip phone, then an iPhone when they came
>> out. When the analog cell networks were shut off in 2008, we got the
>> Jitterbug Dial to replace the analog phone in my wife's car.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> Dennis B. Swaney
>>
> On Sat, Dec 30, 2017 at 12:29 PM, Forrest
>> wrote:
>>
>>> “So if you just want a basic phone for emergencies, get the Jitterbug Flip.
>>> However they do make a Jitterbug slab smartphone also, if you prefer that.”
>>>
>>> The other day when recalling an event from the past I paused to stop and
>>> think: what was it like before cellphones?
>>>
>>> Of course as someone born in the late 1950s it’s not hard to remember
>>> those times. But it gets much more difficult to recall the time when they
>>> first started showing up everywhere.
>>>
>>> I recall getting my first cellphone in 1995 as part of a promotion from
>>> the local phone company. It was offered for free, did not offer free long
>>> distance (unlike today) and featured only a (relatively) small amount of
>>> minutes per month. As both Dennis and BCD have pointed out, it was meant
>>> for emergencies only, dammit, no long chats. Do that when you get home on
>>> your landline phone, or back at the office. They were obviously testing the
>>> waters of this whole new cellphone thing.
>>>
>>> I can recall when I first started seeing web addresses (URLs) being
>>> featured in TV advertising: 1998. Much harder to recall exactly when, for
>>> many people, it was becoming clear that you HAD to have a cellphone
>>> (family, friends wanted to stay in better touch), and not just for your job.
>>>
>>> It’s becoming easier to imagine a home without a television than one
>>> without at least one cellphone in it.