Tuesday, 29 June 2010 - Telephones have changed the world. Cellular telephones... the mobile, the cell... have changed my world. Once we were happy enough with a great big long cord on the wall mounted phone in the kitchen that you could drag around from room to room while painting your toe nails and getting the latest gossip about Susan's friend Linda's best friend's sister's boyfriends buddy Paul. Then I remember getting a second phone and another phone jack. Then I got a phone in my room. Then I got my own phone number. Would it ever get any better than that? It was hard to imagine anyone having it better. I had my own phone, in my own room, and now when I was talking to Susan's friend Linda's best friend's sister's boyfriends buddy Paul I could do so without any fear that there was someone on the extension.
Then along came the mobile telephone. I of course got one. It was the size of a brick and had an antenna that would make NASA proud. Fortunately, it was at the beginning of the whole cell phone craze, and it wasn't long before Motorola came out with a flip phone. Of course it was now the size of half a brick - unless you put on the extended life battery. Like magic, the phone would now last 12 hours, but was back to being the size of a brick. Time marched on, and the phones got progressively smaller. Then came games, and calculators. Ringtones... could it get any better? Individual ringtones... very cool. I got my first I-Paq phone and it was my palm pilot, phone, and camera all in one. I thought I'd hit the big time, but alas, there was more to come still.
On this day in 2007 Apple put the first iPhone out for sale. There was a line around every Apple Store, AT&T re-seller for the masses to finally get their hands on the phone that was going to change things again.. It really did change the way we thought of phones, and yet another race was on. Who could pack the most uses in to a single phone? We now have instant access to phones no matter our location.
There is no longer a phone in my house. No phone jacks, no extensions, no phone bills. I have my iPhone, as any self respecting geek should. I now have with me at any time of day or night a map of the world, an ongoing game of Scrabble with Hiro, Wikipedia, weather updates, all my contacts, my pictures and my calendar. I have become so attached to my phone that should I leave the house without it, I feel naked. It's worse than that public speaking nightmare. What if I need to look something up? What if someone is texting me? What if I'm supposed to be somewhere and I don't know where?
I am attached to my phone, that I had to seperate work from play. Just incase I don't have enough ways to stay in touch, I also carry around a Blackberry... but that one is only for work. I have become so very attached to my phones, that I keep them very close. They are in my breast pockets, a.k.a. my bra. In fact, I keep my iPhone in the left side, and the BlackBerry in the right. The former is personal, the latter is work. It's easy to keep track. The personal phone is full of people I adore, and so it lives close to my heart. It's like a digital hug. The work phone... well it's in the other "breast pocket". Speaking of digital hugs... today is Hug Day. Go ahead and hug your mates, hug your friends, and hug your kids. Me... I'll make a few phone calls from whereever I happen to be.
OOH.... never mind, I'm getting a hug myself. My left breast is ringing. Did I mention I keep it on vibrate? Hugs.
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