It is amazing how far technology and communications have come just in the years since I was a kid.
These days, there's an awful lot we take for granted. For example, we can talk live to somebody clear across the globe... with live pictures, or we can just chat with them via text. We have access to e-mail that reaches anywhere pretty much instantaneously, while actual handwritten snail mail has become almost obsolete, even though it was the mainstay of communication for hundreds of years.
When I was a little kid and I was occasionally allowed to call my auntie out in the country, I would pick up the phone and dial the switchboard in her area and ask the local operator to connect to her phone number which was... 3. Yes her phone number was number three!
Of course my parents generally taught me to not go anywhere near the phone except to answer it, because the moment you picked up a phone it started costing money. In fact they drilled this into me so thoroughly that I virtually thought that just looking at the phone cost money!
Of course, in 1966 Denmark, all calls did cost money, even local ones. Pretty much the only calls you could make for free — interestingly enough — was that you could dial up and get the correct time on demand, and you could dial up and get a weather report. I still remember picking up the phone and dialing 0055 to get the correct time whenever I'd forgotten to wind my watch.
Yes, that's right, I had a mechanical watch I had to remember to wind, about every 6-7 days.
The thing that is slightly amazing about writing these words is that I am not exactly ancient. I'm just 64 years old and that's the stunning part of how far technology has come since then.
The really big deal when making phone calls was calling long distance. In particular, making international calls — which my parents did relatively often, in spite of the cost of doing so — was quite a process.
When I was growing up, direct dialing for international call was still in its infancy. We could call Sweden and Germany, and major cities in England. but pretty much everywhere else required an international operator to place the call.
If it were something truly distant like a call from Denmark to Australia or even to the United States, you literally had to order a call. You would call up the operator, give them the information about the person and the destination of the call and the receiving phone number, they would make the necessary connections through a number of switchboards, and eventually the operator would come back on and save we have your call ready for you.
In case you are wondering why, early underwater (trans-Atlantic, for example) only were capable of carrying a very limited number of simultaneous channels — a few hundred perhaps — connecting hundreds of millions of people in the US with hundreds of millions of people in Europe.
And it was definitely not crystal clear calling! There would be all kinds of crackle and static on the line, and the person at the other end would fade in and out and sometimes we'd have to shout to be able to hear each other.
It's hard for me to imagine that I actually experienced that first-hand, when I pick up my phone and call my cousin in Denmark whose number I have in my speed dial.
Our daughter is expecting a baby this spring, and it's likely that child will grow up and have no idea what a "land line" is! Also makes me wonder what he might be reflecting on, when he's my age...
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Created at 2025.01.15 23:16 PST
1302/2558
The world has evolved incredibly. I'm not Generation Z. I was born in 1997 and I am also living changes. The most dramatic was seeing phones that were the size of a brick.
I remember that other cell phones came out as well. One more iconic than another. Technology has evolved dramatically. It is advancing faster every day. The most amazing thing is how we can communicate from one continent to another. This place is an example of that.
Self-publishing (like Hive) is definitely a recent development, as well... I used some of the very earliest blogs (about 1998) and they seemed so simple, compared to what we can do now!
I expect the next big thing we're likely to see is the disappearance of the desktop computer. Sure, people will likely still have big screens, but you'll just plug the same phone you carry into your desktop monitor, your laptop and so forth... one piece of tech, total portability.
We have already seen many advances in the case of desktop computers. It is interesting, however, I wonder how it could be adapted to different types of activities.
For example, in the field of urban planning and architecture, desktop computers are a vital tool for design. Although, it is true that laptops are the alternative, there is still work being done on these types of computers.
I imagine, something similar, a kind of transparent glass screen that can simply be commanded by voice. The change would be very drastic. Hypothetical, but possible.
I didn't know those details to communicate in those years. But it is true, technological advances have been abysmal. I remember as a child putting coins in a pay phone while my mother talked to my brother, when he was studying at the university miles away from home.
Ah yes, I remember coin phone booths well! I am not sure they even exist here in the USA, anymore, since it seems everyone has a mobile now.
Wow, this brought back a gazillion memories. I remember it was the same here in New York back in the day. We weren't charged for local calls but anything outside our calling area was charged. International calls were outrageous and not allowed. We were also taught never to accept a call when the operator would come on and say there was a collect call from someone. Times have certainly changed, for the better for sure.