Cell Phones

Last Edit January 27, 1999

My grandparents had a crank phone, the wooden box with the crank on the side and a party line. Phone calls were a rare event. Made and received in the evening when the farm chores were done. I remember having one like that in my house very early in life. And then came the black industrial model where you could hold the ear piece and mouth piece in one hand and the crank was replaced. The farm had no electricity until later so they kept the crank.

It took awhile for the party line to be replaced with single person lines. You used to have to count the number of rings to determine if the call was for you. Everything stopped so you could hear them. Privacy was random. People listened in to their neighbors calls for entertainment. Phone lines had to be installed before non-party lines were possible for everyone. The phone network was still being built in my childhood. Then suddenly it was required that everyone had their own line. What a change. It was actually resented.

I grew up and grew into computers, send e-mail at the drop of a hat and want the world to be wired that way. I hate voice mail. Hate phone calls. I lived without a phone through college and grad school and still regard the phone as an intruder and the bill as a nusance. For years I had lifeline phone rates. The phone was for emergency use only. One long distance call on holidays was the exception.

Cell phones have not darkened my purse or my briefcase. Not yet. I dislike the radiation and point to the reports of throat and chin cancer. I dislike the added expense. I complain about hidden charges. And complain about areas that are not covered. I am aware of the woman who called 911 from a cell phone and was murdered because no cell phone company would pick up the call - not their area. I am aware of the added satellites and the legislation that requires 911 calls to be picked up.

I also hate the idea of one more thing to keep track of as I switch cars, one more "remote control" to get lost in my purse or put batteries in or remember how to program. I hate small keyboards and don't like squinting to figure out what keys to hit. I want the phone with the enlarged keys. And who besides 911 can I call? It takes an army of notepads to keep track of relatives. I don't even know the main number at work - I have to look it up on the internet.

I don't want further interruptions in my car while driving. When I am alone, I sing out loud to country and rock and roll. Sometimes when I am not alone I don't want anyone talking. Like during left turns. I think the phone will be just an added intrusion in a bubble of peace.

I've grown up surrounded by computers, e-mail, voice mail and phone calls. I regard the phone as a tool - but I don't use it for talking so much as for connecting to the internet. I use the regular phone to call scouts and my son and the odd relative. But I don't use a phone that much for talking. I also regard it as an intrusion at work. A device designed to interrupt and distract me. It can still make me jump. I still don't quite know what to say when caught off-guard.

Now here come cell phones. These used to be an oddity. Back in the 1970's they were just breaking into existence. Then they were a toy for the rich. A novelty. Now they are being sold to women commuters as a weapon against breakdowns, bad neighborhoods and tangled commuting delays. They are touted a sort of a lifeline to the baby-sitter and the homefront. God forbid Mother is out of reach at any given moment. The CB craze established the need. The cell phones filled the gap. I see people on the phone in the store discussing cans of peaches. Salesmen are plugged in sometimes to the exclusion of the road hazards they are driving through, or into. Computers can be connected on-line through cell phones making your office truly portable. If you want it portable.

Call boxes, once viewed as the panacea for drivers in distress, are being relegated to the background in public attention. People hit the cell phones before they move their cars to the side of the road. Driving without one is becoming hazardous. Driving with one glued to your ear is also hazardous.

It's a matter of balancing the evils.

Having watched car fires, exploding RVs, burning engines, boilovers and other breakdowns while on long trips, and seen the havoc of the accidents and breakdowns that my older son has been in, and having been on one trip where we ended up without gas or water for hours as we threaded our way into Wapiti, WY from Montana, I alone with two children in the wilderness and scared out of my wits, I am convinced that I should give in and get one the same day I renew my driver's license.

After all, I have to keep up with my children.