Back before cellphones

[jkwilson]

Remember the rows of pay phones campgrounds had near the office? Phone calls when you changed campgrounds and periodically so people back home could get in touch if they had to. It was nothing to be out of touch for days if you were out west.

This came up last night as some neighbors complained about the lack of cell coverage in the campground and how “dangerous” it was to be unreachable.

[valhalla360]

Moderator wrote:
At dinner last night, a guest was curious as to what a two humped camel was called. Siri, on my Iphone, gave a quick answer and all welcomed quick access to the information. 🙂

That reminds me. We also listen to audio books on the cell while driving.

The only issue we have is occasionally the phone will start talking to itself. In the book the murderer is revealed...and suddenly we are getting crime stats from the area we are driving thru.

[valhalla360]

curt12914 wrote:

BarabooBob wrote:
In the town of Hill Point, WI there is a working pay phone in what looks like an outhouse. There are a lot of Amish people in the area and there is no cell coverage in many of the valleys around there. The outhouse design works out very well in the winter when it stays cold and windy from November until April.

An outhouse with a pay phone? That's what I call multi-tasking !!!

At least if you drop it in the toilet, there's a cord so you can pull it out.

[valhalla360]

colliehauler wrote:

Crowe wrote:
He had no idea how to use it.

Of course he wouldn't, just like most of us wouldn't know how to use something that was prevalent 75 years ago or something we don't use in everyday life or at our jobs.

True but this was 20 years ago before black rotary desk phones were complete obsolete.

Seen an article that stated that manual transmissions were becoming a theft prevention item because so few people know how to use them.

20yr ago rotary phones were very much an oddity. By the 1980's they were already being phased out, so most folks under 35 likely have never used one and even for the rest, they are a distant memory.

I am a bit sad that the manual transmission is dying a slow death but when it lost it's MPG advantage and sports cars found they could sell a fake manual transmission, it was just a matter time.

[D_E_Bishop]

Cell phones are a convenience not a necessity. That said, I carry one, if I remember to pick it up before I leave home but I don't walk down the street with it in front of my face. I like to see the world in person, not on a screen of only a few square inches. I like to see the expressions of people I am holding a conversation with and the need to visit others to do this. My cell is used to make and receive phone calls, not to hold in front of my face while walking down Main St or hiking on a trail.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Moderator wrote:
At dinner last night, a guest was curious as to what a two humped camel was called. Siri, on my Iphone, gave a quick answer and all welcomed quick access to the information. 🙂

IMO, that is the BEST part of technology - the ability to find the answer to a question in the blink of an eye. When I was in school, I used encyclopedias and dictionaries; but if you didn't know the word to look up, you were in a world of hurt....

Or you'd be searching through the card catalogue at the library, finally find a book description that looked like the one you needed - hiked over to the book stacks and started the search, only to discover the book wasn't there.

[Moderator]

At dinner last night, a guest was curious as to what a two humped camel was called. Siri, on my Iphone, gave a quick answer and all welcomed quick access to the information. 🙂

[colliehauler]

Curt 12914 I use Google maps as well. I had a gathering of friends at the lake house. We sat down to dinner and two people were using their smart phones during dinner. I threatened to take them away and throw them in the lake. They wisely put their phones away. It was actually a empty threat but they got the message.

[curt12914]

As colliehauler said, I love the navigation (I use Google maps). Two years ago, I was headed to the Gettysburg, PA area. When I got close to Harrisburg, PA, my phone advised me of severe delays in Harrisburg and asked permission to reroute me. It took me further south on I-81, then routed me to RT 15 south of Harrisburg. After that route, I never plan on driving through Harrisburg again !

My biggest peeve with smart phones is having a gathering and people playing with their phone.

[colliehauler]

One of my favorite things is navigation technology. Put in your destination and follow with real time traffic and accident avoidance. I especially found it useful on the East coast where I had never been. Need to find someone's house in a major city put in the destination and drive right to it. Miss a turn recalculating immediately to an alternative route. Accident ahead turn off hear to avoid.

Remember when you use to get detailed instructions written down to find someone's house in a strange city?

[colliehauler]

Deb and Ed M wrote:
Cell phones gave us the freedom to travel. Ed's trucking company demanded 24/7 phone monitoring - when a driver needs info, they need it NOW. The only time we could take a vacation was when we could get someone to "take the phones". Now technology lets us be on the road, sightseeing - and still tend to business.

I'm grateful for the technology, even though I only use a tenth of what my phone is capable of...LOL!

Yea, I've turned around on a trip out of town to retrieve my cell phone just in case a emergency occurs. Even though you only use a tenth of what your phone can do it's there if you decide to use it in the future.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Cell phones gave us the freedom to travel. Ed's trucking company demanded 24/7 phone monitoring - when a driver needs info, they need it NOW. The only time we could take a vacation was when we could get someone to "take the phones". Now technology lets us be on the road, sightseeing - and still tend to business.

I'm grateful for the technology, even though I only use a tenth of what my phone is capable of...LOL!

[colliehauler]

Mike134 wrote:
We went on a 2 week canoe trip in the Boundary waters back in '75 No way to contact us or find us. We just crossed our fingers when we got back everyone would still be there. Can you imagine what our grandparents/great grandparents went though sending their sons to war and no contact not even a letter for 6 months?

Yeah folks are just a bit to wrapped up in the idea of "cell phone security"

The local radio station in Ely use to broadcast messages to people in remote areas of the Boundary Waters without communication.

[JimBollman]

I remember we had a party line growing up and if we wanted to make a private call we would walk a block uptown and use the payphone. Seems strange that standing in a closed box on main street was more private than in your own house. In college there was 2 payphones for the whole dorm, now there would be 2 phones per room minimum with cell phones. One big event we go to use to have a bank of payphones and we would stand in line to use them. There is usually 5 or 6 of us camping together, we were joking the last time we were together that they used to have a dozen or so payphones for about 5000 people to share, now we had 6 phones in our campsite.

[curt12914]

BarabooBob wrote:
In the town of Hill Point, WI there is a working pay phone in what looks like an outhouse. There are a lot of Amish people in the area and there is no cell coverage in many of the valleys around there. The outhouse design works out very well in the winter when it stays cold and windy from November until April.

An outhouse with a pay phone? That's what I call multi-tasking !!!

[Mike134]

We went on a 2 week canoe trip in the Boundary waters back in '75 No way to contact us or find us. We just crossed our fingers when we got back everyone would still be there. Can you imagine what our grandparents/great grandparents went though sending their sons to war and no contact not even a letter for 6 months?

Yeah folks are just a bit to wrapped up in the idea of "cell phone security"