By ED VASICEK
Tribune columnist
June 21, 2008 11:00 pm
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I finally bit the bullet and purchased a bona fide cell phone plan. For years, I got by with an emergency “Tracfone” and loved it. I’ll be ok. Really. Let me distract myself by turning our attention to something else. But what? I know!
The ever-changing world of communication.
A few years back, while searching for nostalgia in preparation for a church anniversary celebration, I dug up an old church bulletin form the 1950s. Our church phone number had not changed, but the way it was written had: GLadstone 2-1779! Back then, “Dial ‘M’ for Murder” made sense.
No only were phone numbers presented in such fashion (and therefore easier to remember), but we physically used to “dial” a phone. When I arrived in Kokomo in 1983, both the church and parsonage still had rotary phones. “Touch tone” phones were not available in all areas. True, rotary phones are not completely extinct, but many people under 25 have never dialed one (and some might not know how).
Times have changed from the days of party lines, Ma Bell, or the ordeal of making a long-distance call. One would have to dial “O” for the operator, and she would ring back when a long-distance contact had been made. And the price tag!
It is much cheaper today to call long distance than it was back then (usually several dollars for the first three minutes).
Things in the world of telephones are far from settled; the flux is creating a blinding cloud of dust. Where will it all end? Will it reach an ending point — or at least a resting point?
According to a new government study (mentioned in the June 14 edition of “World Magazine,”), “Sixteen percent of U.S. families have only cell phones, up from 5 percent in 2004.” Indeed, many young adults simply do not want to mess with the expense and complexity of land phones -- not to mention the sometimes-long wait to have them installed.
A recent AP article highlighted yet another change in the phone business utilizing high speed Internet: “…the MagicJack… works with a broadband connection. It’s about the size of a matchbox and plugs into a PC. After plugging a regular phone into the MagicJack, the user can make and receive calls much like using a regular landline.
…it’s selling 8,000 to 9,000 per day, and the company is on track to have half a million subscribers by the end of June… The MagicJack costs $39.95, including one year of free calls to the U.S. and Canada. Another year of service costs $19.95.”
Cable companies are now offering phone service via their cables, and more and more Americans are communicating via email.
I have been a big fan of email since going online back in 1996. What endears me to email is the convenience of sending a message at any time: day or night. I do not have to worry about forgetting to redial someone if I get a busy signal (or if he happens to be out), catching her during a meal, or getting bogged down with a talkative relative. It is my preferred mode of communication.
I have written for the Kokomo Tribune on a weekly basis since 1999. I have never walked over a copy of my article, nor have I mailed a single column to the Tribune. Every one of my articles (without exception) has been delivered by Email.
I am not unique. According to the aforementioned World Magazine, 82 percent of American households have the Internet. Of the remaining 18 percent, some connect to the Internet at Internet cafes or coffeehouses, while many Americans (perhaps even without a computer) avail themselves of Internet use in public libraries.
Communication has come a long way, but it has not yet reached the end of its journey. Who knows how and where it may meander.
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