Friday, March 28, 2014

The Evolution Of The Telephone

Okay before reading on, please watch this short newsreel clip about how to use a telephone when they first invented dial service. And it’s hilarious because it looks like something you would see in a “Telephoning For Dummies” book. And the man's voice is so serious and alarming, you would think he was making a warning announcement for a possible terrorist invasion.

And I have no idea why it has Portuguese subtitles?!

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Two weekends ago, I took the train out to Chestnut Hill and spent the entire day walking around the quaint and charming town while enjoying the gorgeous spring weather.

And as I was strolling down Germantown Ave, I passed an old brick building with this sign:

I was suddenly flooded with childhood memories of what my grandmother used to call it for short: Bell Tel of Penn. And I was also flooded with memories of how telephones looked back then and how far they’ve come in design and technology.

And can you believe that I still remember my family’s telephone number from back in the mid-60’s?

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When I was younger, I was sooooo into phones and talking on them. In fact, my parents gave each one of us kids our own phone in our rooms when we got to a certain age. And not only did we get our own phone, but we also got our own telephone number so that we wouldn’t tie up the family telephone, gabbing with our friends.

Yet it’s funny, because as I’ve gotten older my idolatry of phones has diminished greatly, which is why I don’t have a cell phone, only a landline phone. However, it is cordless. But I also have a backup plug-in phone too, just in case the power goes out.

People always ask me, “How do you live without a cell phone?!?”

And my answer is, “I just do.”

Personally, I don’t want a cell phone because when I’m outside and away from my apartment, I don’t want to be reached by phone. People can leave a message on my home phone voice mail and I’ll call them back.

And yes, I know they’re GREAT for emergencies but they are no longer used only for emergencies, they’re used as a computer. And when I’m away from my computer, I want to be AWAY from my computer. I already spend a vast amount of time on the Internet as it is, I need breaks.

So let's take a brief stroll through telephones, starting with the 1950's...

OMG back then, BLACK was the only color phones came in. No options.

The yellow rotary wall phone you see above is the exact model my family had in our kitchen. And do you see that yellow trimline phone on the lower-right? I had one of those (in blue) in my bedroom.

This is when push-button phones were invented and it was so exciting when my family first got one. I had one like the orange model on the upper-right in my bedroom (in blue). That was the second phone I got. *note: my cousin and I used to play musical songs while talking on the phone, using the touch tones.

When cordless phones first came out, they were the RAGE. And back then, you had to extend the metal antenna to talk. My first cordless phone was like the one on the lower-right.

By the mid to late '90's and into 2000, cordless phones started to get that 'streamline' and almost 'space-age' design. My current phone looks like the one on the left-hand side.

Here are some examples of cell phones throughout 2000. I did actually have a cell phone back in 2001, it was one of those flip-phones. But when I moved back east I got rid of it.

Yes...we've come a long way in the evolution of the telephone, haven't we? A long way since this...

And what I LOVE about this photograph is her perfect posture and how posed this image is. I mean, I sit straight up in my bed all the time like that, wearing a white lacy nightgown and holding a book while talking on the phone, don't you?

No, I'm more like this...

Have a faaaaaaaaabulous weekend everyone!

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