If we had a bigger crew of people taking part in this challenge, I think this would be an extremely fun topic. Depending on when you were born will show your thought of phones and what they have morphed into.
I mean, I could talk about the new iPhone 11 Pro. I recently upgraded and it’s an incredible phone. So far, it’s impressed. The photo quality and everything else is amazing.
I could talk about my first “mobile” phone, which was a car phone. Yes, a true car phone. One that was hard-wired into my car and it actually had a speaker phone. It had a handset and the whole nine yards. Goodness I wish I had photos of that setup. I used to think it was so impressive.
Or how my first true “mobile” phone was a flip phone and going to one with a PDA with it to an android to the iPhone.
Or how about growing up with a rotary phone in the house and when we upgraded to push button it was that much more impressive. And when you got your first cordless phone? Oh my! You could go somewhere else to have privacy!
Ahh, the good old days.
Instead, I’m going to talk about something totally different.
Pay phones.
Though you can still find these in big cities or rest areas, they don’t dot the landscape like they once used to. For those of you who might be confused by the concept of a pay phone – it’s simple. Drop some coins in the machine and make a phone call. Though, do they even still take coins? Or is it all via cards now?
Oh, the modern era.
There once was a time when phones could make a local call for like a dime. Pay phones were the best for prank calls. A dime and a quick prank and away you go.
The best part? No caller ID. Not that it would have mattered anyway because all it would have shown was a pay phone.
I won’t get into our prank call history, but we used to have a lot of fun with them. I mean, who didn’t when doing things like this in your early teens?
But pay phones are becoming more and more scarce. I can remember most of the places our town had them and the ones we utilized. There were no fewer than at least four of them. Now, there’s none.
I can think of one definite place in our area that has a working pay phone and it’s basically in the middle of nowhere. Maybe that’s why it’s still there.
There used to be somebody who would go out and collect the money from all of these pay phones and service them. Now, I’m not sure what they do. Do you send somebody out once a month to maybe collect a buck in change?
When I see phones now, I tend to try and snap photos. If for no reason, just to have some shots so when these fully disappear I have something to show.
The battle of the phones has happened for many years and as technology continues to grow, I’m sure it will continue. Still, I miss some of those older days and the excitement of the phones or getting a call or sneaking to a different part of the house on a cordless hoping nobody would pick up one of the other phones in the house.
But we move forward and will continue to do so, no matter what we want to happen.
This post is part of the 2020 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants!
20 Days of Chill: 2020 Day 14
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The stories I could tell from my 30 year career at the Phone Company. BAck in the day the lab guys would tell us all this was coming but we were sure it was all Jetsons’ stuff. Sure as sugar, it all came true.
Oh, I remember pay phones, and the fact that you actually had to wait your turn during “rush hour”.
Phone booth rush hour?
Yes, after work, many people would use the payphone at Switzerland’s largest train station in Zurich to make plans for the evening or to let family and friends know that you just missed your train, and that you’ll be half an hour late. Sometimes I needed to purchase bottled water at the kiosk so I had appropriate coins to make my call.
Tamara recently posted..20 Days of Chill 2020 – Battle of the Phones
I do remember a few times where people had to wait to use a pay phone. Talk about seeing how far we’ve come as a society, eh?
The last time I saw a pay phone it said it took 50 cent to use for a local call. And I’m not totally sure it even worked.
I know the ones that take cards work, but I’ve wondered with the coins still. I need to find one that takes them and see if maybe I can test it!