The first cell phone I ever saw was a professor's. She kept it in her car. It pretty much took up the whole foot area of the front passenger seat--a big leather box with the handset attached to it by a traditional coil wire (like with the older phones). I asked her why she didn't get a smaller one (we already had the flip phones by then--about 6 oz. probably), but she said she'd gotten used to this one.
I love how one of its advantages is that it's only SIX-AND-A-HALF POUNDS! Wow!
Back in my schooldays, I was a member of the Army Cadet Force. For reasons I can't adequately explain, I joined the signals section, and, at the age of fourteen, I was crawling around in the undergrowth, lugging an "88-Set" (http://www.royalsignals.org.uk/photos/ws88.htm) The 88 consisted of a radio, about the size of this, in a belt-webbing pack. And a matching size battery pack on the other side. Communication was usually by headset, but there was a plug in telephone handset to pass to the officer... "All stations, Romeo Sierra, Sunray on set". And it had a range of about two miles. After an outing in the mud, I had to scrub the damn thing with a manky toothbrush, before signing it back in to stores. Now I have a dinky little wafer in my pocket, and a bluetooth headset, and I can speak to people anywhere in the world, pretty much. Well, of course I knew back then that change was coming and before 1980, I'd be speaking into my atomic-powered wristwatch/telecommunicator. Your front-line troops, if the picture's anything to go by were better looking than ours.
I sometimes marvel at the differences between the technological level between now and my youth. In many ways, I've been there through some of the most significant changes, changes that affected lifestyles in ways I don't think anyone really envisioned.
When you see those old 50's cartoons and speculations about "life in the future," what you often saw were neato gadgets shoe-horned into the same world they'd had before without much change in the way it was lived.
Computers and cellphones were, at best, dinosaurs when I was a child, TV still limited to a couple of channels (caught poorly with an antenna), video games were a clunky amusement strictly at arcades. I can still remember the computer my high school (senior year) used for teaching with it's audio tape for a "hard drive" and 10" "discs." Real harddrives and RAM were given in KB. My first husband had a slightly slimmed down version of the phone in this article.
Now, the desk I'm at has four computers on it (not counting my cellphone which has more computing power by an order of magnitude than my first computer) that are all for my use exclusively since my daughter has her own laptop and cellphone and tablet at college. The smaller kids, who still aren't really talking, have a computer of their own downstairs.
It's not just new toys, but a different world in many ways than the one I grew up in. I know my children live a far different lifestyle than I had, for better or worse.
That is hilarious!
ReplyDeleteThe first cell phone I ever saw was a professor's. She kept it in her car. It pretty much took up the whole foot area of the front passenger seat--a big leather box with the handset attached to it by a traditional coil wire (like with the older phones). I asked her why she didn't get a smaller one (we already had the flip phones by then--about 6 oz. probably), but she said she'd gotten used to this one.
I love how one of its advantages is that it's only SIX-AND-A-HALF POUNDS! Wow!
The small size cracked me up too. :)
DeleteBack in my schooldays, I was a member of the Army Cadet Force. For reasons I can't adequately explain, I joined the signals section, and, at the age of fourteen, I was crawling around in the undergrowth, lugging an "88-Set" (http://www.royalsignals.org.uk/photos/ws88.htm)
ReplyDeleteThe 88 consisted of a radio, about the size of this, in a belt-webbing pack. And a matching size battery pack on the other side. Communication was usually by headset, but there was a plug in telephone handset to pass to the officer... "All stations, Romeo Sierra, Sunray on set".
And it had a range of about two miles. After an outing in the mud, I had to scrub the damn thing with a manky toothbrush, before signing it back in to stores.
Now I have a dinky little wafer in my pocket, and a bluetooth headset, and I can speak to people anywhere in the world, pretty much.
Well, of course I knew back then that change was coming and before 1980, I'd be speaking into my atomic-powered wristwatch/telecommunicator.
Your front-line troops, if the picture's anything to go by were better looking than ours.
I looked up the picture. Pretty compact it was.
DeleteWe were always too poor to afford any phone......
ReplyDeleteWhich is why, in Scotland, the kilted highlanders learned to yodel melodiously across the caledonian alps.
DeleteOdelaiiideeee!
While behind the wheel of a M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, I will text whoever I please!
ReplyDeleteHi Jerry. Not sure of the Abrams having a "wheel" but if you are in there you can text. For sure!
DeleteI sometimes marvel at the differences between the technological level between now and my youth. In many ways, I've been there through some of the most significant changes, changes that affected lifestyles in ways I don't think anyone really envisioned.
ReplyDeleteWhen you see those old 50's cartoons and speculations about "life in the future," what you often saw were neato gadgets shoe-horned into the same world they'd had before without much change in the way it was lived.
Computers and cellphones were, at best, dinosaurs when I was a child, TV still limited to a couple of channels (caught poorly with an antenna), video games were a clunky amusement strictly at arcades. I can still remember the computer my high school (senior year) used for teaching with it's audio tape for a "hard drive" and 10" "discs." Real harddrives and RAM were given in KB. My first husband had a slightly slimmed down version of the phone in this article.
Now, the desk I'm at has four computers on it (not counting my cellphone which has more computing power by an order of magnitude than my first computer) that are all for my use exclusively since my daughter has her own laptop and cellphone and tablet at college. The smaller kids, who still aren't really talking, have a computer of their own downstairs.
It's not just new toys, but a different world in many ways than the one I grew up in. I know my children live a far different lifestyle than I had, for better or worse.
And, yes, I think it's mostly better.
God, I'm old.
I am too young to remember that stuff.
Delete