Monday, August 23, 2010

call me on my land line but don't leave me a message

I've been doing a lot of thinking.

Uh-oh.

It's come to my attention that talking on the phone is no longer a national pastime. When was it, the 80's-90's? Like people don't really want to speak anymore in the year 2010. Voice mail makes many people (ahem, me and Charlie) cringe. I read an article in the Washington Post about 2 weeks ago that was about this very topic; one college student was quoted as saying that he doesn't call his friends without texting a 'pre-appointed conversation time' because calling unexpectedly would make him feel awkward and he doesn't want to be rude! I DO love texting, but when did an actual call become rude?

And cell phone companies are selling us a bill of goods that your "fave 5" or "friends and family" minutes are free because reality check: we only talk to 5 people EVER on the phone. And they ARE our friends and family. We chat in the car while we commute and that's pretty much it. Done. Next question.

I'll admit, I am on the phone a decent amount of time because of my job, but I like talking on the phone. And I can't imagine giving up a land line in my house. Weird? Charlie already went cell phones only & our Brother NixonSleeve did too.

Now, I distinctly remember longing for a phone in my room in high school. Maybe that is where the intrinsic value of the land line was formed for me. I felt like that would solve all my problems-if I could only have access to my OWN phone, on my night stand 24/7. Do you remember that feeling too? It's because it was BEFORE cordless phones. Take a walk down memory lane with me. All of these phones were the object of my affection at one time or another:



The Swatch Phone-very cool choice


Cabbage Patch phone-not so cool but available at Spencer's Gifts I'm sure..I went thru a Spencer's phase. Lava lamps, magic 8 balls, fake dog doo, you know, the usual.


I really wanted this phone...there was a model that lit up when it rang. Convenient.



Always a classy choice.



We had this phone. It was in my room right before cordless phones became the norm.
I called it the banana phone.





I think I wanted this one too. Who didn't love Garfield?



Classic 80's look. Reminds me of a Robert Palmer video(s).






And why not think pink?

If you had any of the above phones, you need to stand up be counted as a child of the 80's!!!

PS- the word "texting" is always caught on spell check. FYI spell check is old school too.

After all this, I will admit that I loathe checking voice mail. I never signed up for the delayed 'to-do list' when I lost my heart to the Garfield phone, ya know?

A plug for today's technology: Do you all know about Google Voice? You can pick your new local phone number, forward the calls to any number you want and your voicemail is transcribed to an email. OBSESSED with it. And it's FREE. Who loves you now?

Night all!
Lulu

3 comments:

Fabulously Awkward said...

We had that pink rotary phone, but in the ugliest yellow. I recall spending a minute or two draped over my family's furniture, feet up, chatting on that uggo.

I do recall the time when I thought I would DIE if I didn't get a phone in my room.

Ah, memories. ;)

Charlie said...

good post, my friend! i think i wanted a phone in my room when i was a sevie/8-ball and then i HATED having it in my room in high school. it meant i actually could be held responsible if the phone wasn't answered. and you know dad always put that "phone duty" business on me! bahhhh!

Al said...

we TOTALLY had the banana phone too!! You brought back childhood memories for me with that picture :)