sunday scribblings - telephone

I was sitting by the phone,

I was waiting all alone

Ring, ring, why don't you give me a call?

Ring, ring, the happiest sound of them all

Ring, ring, I stare at the phone on the wall

And I sit all alone impatiently.

(ABBA - Ring Ring)

Can you imagine the social changes the telephone brought to society? I'm sure some people thought it was the work of the devil and were frightened by hearing the sound of another voice at the other end of the receiver, just like television was feared. It must have been a tremendous change.

Nowadays we're going through a bit change as well, with the introduction of the Internet and mobile phones, except we're probably not noticing the substancial changes. It was ten years ago that mobile phones were owned by almost everyone around me (except me, I resisted until 2001).

If you look around you the subtleties of using mobile phones are everywhere. It has allowed us to communicate with others quickly, immediately and without disturbing them (sms), it allows us to talk to others wherever they are in the World and we and them don't need to be still. Have you noticed how you don't make plans the way you used to? Imagine you're meeting someone the next day. Whilst before you carefully scheduled a time and a place, nowadays you say an approximate time and place and when you get there you phone/text the other person and ask where they are.

The list of these tiny things could go on and on. Notice also how songs like the one I quoted above don't work anymore. It was a frequent image for the lovelorn to be standing by the phone waiting for it to ring. Now you can take the phone with you and wait while you're doing other things. lol

Mobile phones and the Internet are still not completely integrated in my imaginary though. For instance, I rarely feature them in whatever I write. Text messages are not very romantic nor dramatic, I don't care what people say. ;)

More phone-rings on Sunday Scribblings.