This cartoon is from 1919 – 106 years ago. It’s about “pocket telephones,” which of course were not a thing back then. Regular landline telephones were barely a thing, so it’s amazing that cartoonist W.K. Haselden came up with this concept.
And the thing is, all of these scenarios have happened to us at one time or other with cell phones today. So Haselden was really predicting the future.
When cell phones first became popular, I used to think of what a Seinfeld episode would be like with cell phones, you know, how would it fit into the show. I’m not sure why I thought of Seinfeld, because it could be interesting with any show from the past.
I pictured the characters in a store or something and a bunch of phones would ring at the same time and everyone would grab their phones and hilarity would ensue.
These days, most people text. I gave up answering my business phone years ago, which sounds strange, but I own an online business and most of the questions people ask need to be in writing – quotes, things like that. So I don’t answer the phone, I have a message that says, please email us at this address . . . “
A couple of people in my life, one of my cousins and one of my sisters-in-law will call me if I text them. I can text either one of them, “What time is the party on Saturday,” and they’ll call me back, rather than text me the time. So whenever I am going to text them, I make sure I am available to take their phone call which invariably is two seconds after I send the text.
When I text, I usually do it with one or two words. I’m quite famous for my, “OK.” For instance I’ll get a text telling me to meet so-and-so at 1 pm, I respond, “OK.” Or I get a text telling me not to forget the milk, and I’ll respond, “OK.” People didn’t like the one word answers, but they are used to it by now.
One of my brothers texts back “Okay” for “OK.” I asked him why he fully spelled it out. He said it’s because it just auto fills that in as he is typing.
I’m on a lot of text chains with family, friends, my condo neighbors, etc. Some of them are on silent, because once a text starts, it goes on and on and the beeping alerting me of next texts is non-stop.
At our building, someone will text, “I’m looking for my Amazon package, has anyone seen it?” And you get a dozen, “not me,” “not me,” “not me.” People feel the need to respond.
One friend sends out about 20 or more photos at a time. If it’s someone’s birthday or the Miami Dolphins scores or something to do with The Beatles, who he loves, he sends out images and text by the dozens. I have that alert sound off, so when I look at the phone and see 40 new text messages, it alarming, no pun intended, until I see it’s him sending us 20 Paul McCartney photos on Paul’s birthday, and the other 20 messages are from people responding.
I left my house without my phone one time. I felt totally naked and lost, but after a while, it turned out to be one of the most peaceful days I had in a long time. It’s hard to remember back to a time before we had cell phones.
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