I admit it. I am addicted to my cell phone. It goes everywhere with me, it is on me at all times, hell it is usually in my hand! I cant imagine a time when people did not have cell phones. It boggles me that people communicated and got around in life without being able to contact others or be contacted themselves at any moment.
The topic of cell phones though actually got started over the weekend when a friend was telling me that her parents were comparing the dating world today from during the time they dated just by the use of the cell phone (BY THE WAY... if you haven't already noticed many of my blog topics come from conversations that I have already had, I just feel like there are some that I need to share with everyone else.)
This is what I learned from the conversation (or assumed because of the conversation):
First off, when they exchanged phone numbers they literally had to write them down on a piece of paper, on thier hand/arm, or memorize them. There was no handy, dandy device readily available to type the number in and then have it saved for when we wanted to contact them/be contacted. So does this mean people carried pens and paper on them for when they met someone? Because I lose pens all the time. Just sayin...
Second off, they literally had to wait to hear from the person. Nowadays, if we give out our phone number and dont hear from the person in a day, hell even that same night, we are annoyed and automatically assume we will not hear from them at all because they didn't have the courage to contact us right away. But, there was no "right away" you had to wait until you either got home, or the other person got home, to hear from them.I guess people had more patience back then?? I couldn't handle it, I don't have patience. Ask my mom, she knows.
Third off , if they said they were coming to pick you up, you literally had to bank on the fact that they were coming and would not be late. There were no cell phones to call and give a heads up that they might be running late due to traffic or a flat tire, or that they got lost getting to your place. Also, once they were at your place to pick you up, there was no phone call or text from the car saying they were right outside. People actually had to get out of thier cars, ring the doorbell, and pick the person up at the door. I guess this is where the general dating gestures and mannersims go out the door these days - and to think we complain that men aren't "gentlemen" to us. It is because apparently cell phones make people lazy!!
Fourth off, there was no ability to constantly talk to that other person. These days, even when we are on vacation and getting away from the world there is always that cell phone laying by us in case someone wants to call or contact us via text (because like I have said before, calling has gone out the window but IT'S OKAY) We are always on our phone, having conversations via text. But what about back in the day when people actually did call? And if you were not home, left a message. And if you were not too busy, then you got a hold of them. And this went on for a cycle until you actually conversed on the phone to make plans. And if we dont hear from people right away these days, lordy the world has ended. We are sitting on our phones opening it every 10 minutes to see if that person has texted us back to (most of the time) find out nope, they have not. And then we get our hopes up.
But in all seriousness... besides just the dating world, we are too caught up in being readily accesible at all times of the day. It is sad to think that if we dont hear from someone within an hour something is wrong with them or something bad happend. But people really did used to live that way and it is something we are just not used to!
It is cool, even after this blog I will still have my cell phone on me at all times. So feel free to text me all you want - I will most likely answer.
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