23 July 2010 Unrealistic expectations in the valley or Hooked on phone X

23 July 2010 Unrealistic expectations in the valley or Hooked on phone X


We are currently awaiting the arrival of two phones from Verizon; hoping against all evidence to the contrary that we will be able to pick up a carrier signal here at the edge of Tennessee. They will not be activated and if we can’t pick up a tower, we will most likely have to drive to Greeneville in order to have them activated. Pain in the ass, to be sure. More so, in light of the fact that there was a slightly available contact on the Verizon phones we had when we moved in in 2006. Shabby treatment by a local Verizon store added to minimal service here ended that arrangement with Verizon and sent us on a search for home and local coverage that we have yet to achieve.

The apparent necessity of having cell phones has become far more important than we ever expected. Buying a phone that is only a phone almost certainly provides one with the lowest probability of connectivity for the money. The driving market demographic is no longer middle-aged adults but teens and young adults who have grown up without ever having lived without cellular phones. What was once an expensive business tool sometimes used for personal safety is now an item that all age groups under 60 seem to consider essential for daily life.

Cell phones have replaced or have been merged with, phones ( obviously), music players, USB storage devices, cameras, GPS systems, notebooks, calendars, calculators, web browsers, radios, televisions, watches, and a list of items that I can’t even begin to think of.

I don’t play video games, stream music, video, or carry photographs around with me. What music I might want is already loaded on an MP3 player. I see no reason to use battery time to listen to downgraded music. I don’t like music videos so screen size is more about reading the numbers and letters with aging eyes than about watching any sort of video. I still put on a wrist watch as an integral part of my morning routine. I don’t think about carrying a phone instead. A phone, to me, is still primarily a phone. That is, if I can connect to a tower.

There is something I want to do with this new phone, if possible. I would like to download some endangered species sounds to use as ringtones. Damaged hearing means that I need to have the volume levels set high up the range in order for me to hear the phone ring. I find popular music ring tones obnoxious, as people let them play for intolerable lengths of time while they dig in purses or coats to find them and see who is calling or messaging them. I’d rather use something that most people can’t identify in situations where it is my turn to be obnoxious.

There is a huge list of everyday items and tools that have evolved or appeared during the short span of my life to date. It may be amusing to explore this list if I can do it with including any of the “If you grew up when” lists that circulate the web.

Today, phones only. My earliest memories of phones include a wooden box on the wall with a crank to summon the operator, separate ear and mouthpieces, and a party line. Forward to a black handset wired to a central switchboard in a private home. Summon operator by pushing the disconnect switch rapidly and asking for an alpha-numeric combination. Oakland 97654. Connections were all hard wired and most lines were party lines. At age 5 dial phones appeared, and then area codes became necessary. After dial tones, touch tone sets, still wired to house jacks. Follow on to wireless handsets and then cell phones that were the size of shoe boxes. Now over half the population has a phone that equals or exceeds Dick Tracy’s two-way wrist TV. Many people no longer have land lines, hard wired to the network. We’re still atavistic enough to keep our land line. Lots of reasons for that including difficulty in obtaining cell connections without paying for satellite phone coverage.

Shabbat Shalom – stay cool this weekend.