SMART PEOPLE...OR SMART PHONES?

Last week...one of the guys at work informed me that the local Target store was selling 'smart phones' (iPhones) for $49...and suggested that I should get Cindy & myself one.

He explained the reason they were $49...was because they are the older version of iPhone...technology that has been out for a few years...and now the new phones with more features are coming out. It's a way to get a 'newer phone' but pay less money...and for Apple to make a little money off the older phones still on the shelf. Sorta like when the car dealers want to sell you 'this years' model at a great price because they want to get them off the lot to make room for the 'new' models that are about to come out.

The new phone technology is amazing. You essentially have the power of a computer...that fits in the palm of your hand.

I giggle when I think of the new phones...and then think of when Cindy & I visit her mother in Vincennes...and watch her 'dial' her numbers on her 'rotary' phone she still has in the house.

Then I think further back...to the early 60's...when dad worked at the motel in Vincennes. Among the many chores dad did there was his work at the front desk. One aspect of 'that' job was running the switchboard.

All 44 rooms of the motel had phones...they just didn't have any buttons or rotary dials on them. When the guest needed something...they picked up the phone and a light flashed and a buzzer sounded on the switchboard in the office. Dad would pull a cable from the base of the switchboard and plug it into the hole under the flashing light representing the room that was calling. He would ask how he could help them and if 'he' could provide the information they needed, he'd end the phone call...pull the cable from the hole and let it rewind into the switchboard base.

If the caller wanted to call 'an outside number' or talk to the operator...dad would put them on hold...pull another cable out of the switchboard base and plug that cable into 'another hole' in the switchboard that would provide an 'outside' line for the caller or connect to the operator. He would then get back on the line with the guest and dial the number they wanted or turn them over to the operator to let them speak directly with her.

Quite a huge apparatus...and a big operation. All those steps...were what had to happen when we used our phones in the 'old days'.

To think of that then...and compare it to today's technology of calling almost anywhere in the world on a small object fitting in the palm of your hand...is truly amazing.

We're a 'smart' people...not just people who use 'smart' phones.


Dan