Picture of the day - January 16, 2008

An old Rotary Dial Telephone

Photo courtesy of Carlos Paes. Technological advances have changed the world so much from the way it was back in my grandfather's day that I'm sure he would feel completely lost if he could somehow  return and resume his life here in the year 2008. And although I actually lived through the transition from an analog world to a digital one, at times the dizzying pace of change is even a bit too much for me to wrap my head around. Take the world of the telephone for example... Those of us who are old enough to remember the 1960's will recall that most of the houses that had telephone service back then (and a significant portion of them didn't) had just a single telephone which was usually sitting on a special piece of furniture called, appropriately enough, a telephone stand. Since the phone was tethered to the wall by a short cord, you couldn't walk around your house while carrying on a conversation with the person on the other end of "the line". Instead, you had to stand or sit by the phone until you were done. And of course when the phone rang, you had to get up and walk to the room where the phone was located before you could answer it. Even worse, the phones in many homes were on a "party line" - a single telephone wire that served two or more households. When your neighbor's phone rang, yours would often ring too, and everyone on the party line could listen in on your conversation if they chose to do so. In many ways, the old party line worked just like the extension phones in your own home. For example, if you receive a call, you can pick up any phone in your home and answer it, but someone in another room can pick up a different phone and listen in on your conversation. The old party lines worked pretty much the same way. Back then if you wanted to text message somebody, you picked up a pen and wrote a letter. Speed dialing? That meant putting your index finger into the appropriate hole on the dial and turning it as quickly as possible, and then waiting for what seemed like an eternity for the dial to return to its rest position before you could dial the next number. And there was only one "ring tone": the familiar clanging bell that was so loud it could wake the dead in cemeteries located in several surrounding states. There weren't any cell phones back then, so if you were away from home and found yourself in a position where you absolutely had to make a phone call, you either had to find a telephone booth (and hope you had a dime in your pocket), or knock on someone's door and ask to use their phone. Of course the world was different back then and most people would accommodate you, but it was still rather embarrassing to have to ask a total stranger if you could use his/her phone. But even with all of those perceived shortcomings, there were some definite advantages to living life with one simple telephone in your house. For example, when you left your house, you left the phone and all of the aggravations associated with it behind for a while. You didn't have to worry about getting an "urgent" call from your boss while on vacation or listen to a bunch of people chattering away on their cell phones in the middle of a great movie. All you had to do was relax and enjoy yourself. Now don't get me wrong, I'm as big a fan of modern technology as anyone else. But all of this "convenience" and "connectivity" comes at a price that goes far beyond the money required to pay for it all. Over the years we have sacrificed a lot of our peace and quiet in the name of progress, and I doubt if we'll ever be able to really get any of it back.   Click here to comment on this picture.   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"