Back in the ‘old days’ once we had the first phone in our house (our telephone number was the name of the village followed by 9!) my brother, sister and I used to have fun imagining what it would be like if you could see as well as hear the person you were talking to. Many decades later and after moving into the age of the computer and getting used to doing more online we are now at the stage when there is not much you can’t do with simply a mobile phone.
Here are some of the things we can now do on a hand-held phone and some pictures of some of the items the mobile phone can now replace.
Take a photograph. This was the first big jump made by mobile phones before they became ‘smart’. My first ever mobile phone only made and received calls and it lived in the glove compartment of my car. It was literally a ‘car phone’. Then came phones on which you could text and then, lo and behold! the ones we referred to at first as camera phones which actually took photographs.
Check the time, your bank balance and the weather. Read the news.
Look up facts in encyclopedias and reference books.
Check for first aid info and advice on family health.
Find out how to do a DIY job in the home.
Shop for clothes, toiletries, books, food . . . anything and everything!
Source knitting patterns, recipes, maps,
Read or listen to music.
Pay for goods or services in a shop, taxi, hair salon, filling station etc.
A phone used to be a word for a gadget which was held in the hand on which you spoke to people you couldn’t see. Today’s phones do so much more and the humble telephone call is a very minor part of its role. Although I do a lot online I still have one foot in the non-digital age. I do hope books don’t disappear – I love them! I love reading fiction and I also enjoy browsing through recipe books and history books. Reading a book on a phone or tablet is just not the same for me. I still use cash as well as cards and PayPal or Amazon. I keep a road atlas in the car and I wear a watch.
Childhood Memories of growing up in the 1950s and 1960s. 
Oh my gosh..does that make of you..and so many others..the leaders of..tomorrowland. You have found ways..to appreciate..the ..modern pathways..which a phone..’morphed into’..providing. Here..in our little corner of the world..i do..without. Only when down in the wilds..of the hiking..near the McKenzie River..do I carry a cell phone. It isn’t even mine, but ..borrowed. My sons had made that explicitly clear..last year..after the new knee implant. If I hit a problem..like a cougar or a fall..down a muddy slope..i can call for help. As soon as I arrive upstairs..to my apt..in the ancient house..i hang the lil woven purse..with the phone..near my boots. About 90 percent of my purchases are done with cash from my account..at a..credit union. I still..squirrel through my over 130ish cookbooks from around the world..for recipes..ideas. My very oldest ones..have been passed on to the former students..as relics..from another time. 😉 Every 2 weeks..i get into a book store, or a thrift store..for books..new to me. Curr. reading a huge book from the columb. river area..set in the 1918s..by finns..and dealing with the ..red and the white finns. Bloody communisim..and the birth of the union movements. The title Deep River. As I flash along in the store aisles..with my hand written groc. list, I wend my way around 40 ish yr. olds..standing and asking the phone companion they are..talking to..questions as to what they are..to ..’pick up’. Gray hair..flashing..i excuse moi self..and leave them puppys..IN THE DIRT! (yeah..i’m ..wicked that way…)
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Yeah, leave ’em in the dirt!
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Great response, Ina! I love that you still go hiking after a knee replacement but a phone – just in case – is sensible in the hills. Assuming you can get a signal when you need one! I still take a hand written list when I’m shopping and I see the same thing every time. People all around on their phones. Deep River sounds like an interesting book. I too buy all my books in charity shops.
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Phones can do remarkable things nowadays, but where I draw the line is with students’ attempting to write a college research paper on their cell phone. It doesn’t work.
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Agree! Some things are just not meant to be done on a mobile!
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