The other day we were looking at cell phones in the store. My daughters love to do this. It's just a matter of time until they get their own. Anyway, Crab Leg was looking at one of the more basic phones and she told me, "That's just a talking phone." Dismissively. Almost contemptuously. Wouldn't want to be seen with it.
Just a talking phone??? My, how times change.
I had to remind her that we didn't have cell phones when I was a kid. We didn't have cordless phones. We couldn't even buy our own phones in the store (had to get them from Ma Bell). We had to dial our phones, not press buttons! Go ahead, ask your kids why we say "dial" the phone and see if they know.
And now the phone I have in my pocket has a 1 GHz processor in it. (Remember when that 486 with a 66 MHz processor was a BIG DEAL?) It shows YouTube videos. It does e-mail. It surfs the Net. Wirelessly, while driving down the road. It's miniscule (4.7" x 2.4" x 0.45"). Amazing when you think about it.
Here's another anecdote. A co-worker related this story about how times have changed--but are perfectly normal to our kids. At dinner he and a friend were discussing something but they got stuck when they didn't have a piece of information.
As they pondered, his daughter asked him, "Why don't you ask your phone?"
He asked his daughter, "That's a great idea, what made you think of that?"
She said, "Isn't that what you always do when you don't know the answer?" She had seen him do it before. Perfectly normal for her, but still new to us.
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