Call Me, Beep Me.. If Ya Wanna Reach Me.

For us 90s kids, you will most likely understand the reference in the title of this blog. For the rest of you ... Check this out. (She was seriously one of the coolest girls of the 90s.)


So tonight as I was scrolling through some of my favorite blogs and twitter I noticed that today is a monumental day. 40 years ago today the very first mobile phone call was made. Thanks to this article from Mashable - first mobile phone call - and a few tweets from different technology companies, I realized how big of an event this truly is. When I saw 40 years I thought "its only been 40 years?" but my mother said "Its been that long already?"  I am apart of the technology generation and I live it every single day. To me, it feels like it has been around forever. It is crazy to think how much development has happened in 40 years.

I found this wonderful graphic courtesy of Mashable.

Mashable composite. Image via iStockphoto, LockieCurrie.

The progress is outstanding.  It is crazy to me that people used to live without these devices. When their cars broke down, they walked to get help. We pick up the phone and call people until someone comes to the rescue. How hard is that? A few button clicks and some kind words - maybe some begging and pleading. We have life so easy. You want to know how much gas costs at all of the surrounding neighborhood pump locations?? Forget driving from place to place. All you have to do is open your handy-dandy Yellow Pages Mobile App that will show every gas station in a mile radius of your choosing, and also their prices for cash AND credit. Amazing isn't it? Lazy? Maybe so. Smart? You betcha. 

Life has become so fast-paced and technological in the last 40 years. Each and every one of us literally holds the world in the palm of our hands, every single day. Whether you have a smart phone, or tablet... or even a "dumb" phone or a phone of any type, it just takes a few presses of the button and you hold a never-ending wealth of information.

Lets look at one more thing... the development of mobile phones. They began big and bulky. Now, some are paper thin, some are waterproof and some are even indestructible. Where will they go next?

I personally have had six different cell phones (many, many more if you count the number of times they broke or needed to be replaced for some reason.) over the course of seven years. 

Do you remember those phones that had three buttons on them...? One for mom, one for dad, and one for emergency? Some of them even had four or five. If you were lucky you had a button for home and a button for a phone book of up to five people, of your parents choosing of course. They were called a Firefly and looked something like this... 

Yes, I had one of those. And upon googling this image, I noticed that there were many much prettier than mine.... apparently they even made pink ones. I missed out. Anyway, these phones were what kids had when they were my age. I got this in seventh grade when I was twelve years old. Now I see twelve-year-olds with their iPhones to their ear, while playing games on their iPads. Times sure are changing. One other interesting thing about the Firefly is that the fee to use it was EXTREMELY high, especially compared to modern day "talk" fees. It was 25 cents A MINUTE. That is more expensive than international calling. Also, I will never forget the day that I figured out that password to the phone book and broke in and added two of my friend's numbers. I thought I was all that and a bag of chips.  After my parents realized how quickly the minutes were going by (thanks to those two numbers!) and how much it was costing us... it was time to move into the world of cellphone companies and 2-year contracts.

My first "real" phone was an LG Chocolate. It was mint green and I loved that phone beyond words. It was such an upgrade from my Firefly. It has an MP3 player and it even took pictures! (Are there any phones that DON'T take pictures now???)  

My mother bought this phone for me, and I am pretty sure she bought it based on it's very catchy commercial. (Good job, Verizon marketers!) Check it out - LG Chocolate commercial. 

After this phone I went through a variety of others...

 

and now...

No, I never got a smartphone. No, I am not "up" with today's mobile phone phenomena  However, I do have an iPad, which I think is enough mobile for me and keeps my phone bills down :) 

It is mind-blowing to me how technology evolves and changes so rapidly. And not just the physical items, but how we use them. When I was in high school I was CONSTANTLY texting.. constantly. Through school, in the car, at the dinner table.. I was horrible. One month I sent over 23,000 text messages. (Verizon actually made a comment about that one.) But now, thanks to mobile sites and social networking sites, communication has again evolved  Now I spend hours a day checking Facebook, Twitter and my email, rather than tiring out thumbs. Either way, I live in a world that it always connected. The very last thing I do before I fall asleep is scan my social media feeds and send a few text messages. As soon as my eyes open in the morning... what did I miss overnight? It is now a world where everyone not only wants to know, but needs to know what is going on, all the time. What would we do if for just one day all the internet and phone in the ENTIRE world were to stop working? It would be utter chaos. 

If technology, and mobile phones, have come this far in 40 years.... what will the next 40 bring? Now that's some food for thought.

Goodnight!

XOXO