The other evening my kids found an old phone and they had a lot of questions about it.
I have no idea where the phone came from, but they have had fun pretending to talk on it the past few days. It's amazing how much phones have changed in the last 20 years even! It's pretty common to have corded phones here in Panama. My parents even have one in Texas, but it's a cordless phone and my kids never have taken notice of it when we've visited.
The kids came up with some funny questions about this phone the other day.
How do you know who is calling?
You don't know until you pick it up and talk to the person who is calling.
Does each house on the street have a different ringtone?
Nope, all of the phones pretty much ring the same. I remember seeing some phones that made different noises, but we always just had regular phones growing up.
You could only walk this far away from where it was plugged in?
Yes, the cord keeps you in a certain area. I remember I had a really long cord on a phone in my bedroom, so I could take it all the way into my closet and close the door. Fancy.
How did it work?
You pick up the phone and dial the number and talk to the person who answers. If it rings, you pick it up and say, "Hello." You could also be more formal and say, "This is the ______ family, __________ speaking." Can you tell I don't talk on my cell phone too often? Ha!
What does the T or P switch on the side mean?
That stands for tone or pulse, and you change it depending on the type of phone it is. A rotary phone would pulse and this phone uses tones. I remember my grandmother had a rotary phone in her house. It was always pretty fun to play with.
You had to pay for the phone and then pay to use it?
Yes, just like you have to pay for internet to use it at home or a cell phone. You pay for the phone and then the service.
Can you plug the cord into your cellphone so we can hear it work?
Nope, it doesn't work that way. You have to plug it into the wall and haver service to be able to use it. Some of these questions are funny because there is even a pay phone at the grocery store we use, and they play with it when we walk by, but maybe they haven't made the connection. Ha!
In conclusion, if you'd like to feel "ancient," get out an old phone (even an old flip cell phone) and see what your kids think about it! Ha!
That is so funny that you discovered this recently -- I was just talking to my husband about how today's kids don't know what old phones are 😅 or VHS, cassette tapes! 😱 I can't believe I am experiencing it now!
Thank you for sharing this with us 😄 I'm glad they had fun discovering it and were very inquisitive
I know, it's crazy! Yes - VHS and cassette tapes! Those would be funny to see them figure those out as well! Ha!
When we say "phone" this is what we used to think of! Not the glowy black mirror that our current generation thinks of. I'd have fun twirling the cord...
Ha! Yes, always fun to twirl the cord!
Good memories. !BBH
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Hahaha, this is a fun read. Your kids must have been so curious they asked a lot of questions. How much more if they say something more ancient than that phone 😅
I know, right? I'm sure they've seen things that are older, but this just really struck them the other day and they were full of funny questions!
This was a fun post to read, @apanamamama! 😅 When you're "old as dirt," I could tell by looking at it that even this phone was an "upgrade" Version 2.0 (at least), from the rotary dial phone we still have in our ... "museum" ... 🙄😉
How about writing one featuring typing on a keyboard? On a typewriter! No, no, not an IBM Selectric (electric) typewriter either. An Underwood typewriter (manual), on which I learned to type! At least it had the "ancient" QWERTY key pattern ... Hahaha ...
Ah yes! I took typing 2 times in high school. I just loved typing class on electric typewriters. Then I remember I had a computer class in the late 90s and that was super new - in high school and in college! There is a manual cash register at a restaurant we go to that the kids like to play with. A manual typewriter would be fun to have too! I can just hear it now!
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I have even an older phone sitting in my garage, quite heavy and I don't remember why I have it. It's white with a hand piece with the heft of a small dumbbell that rests on a pyramid type base. The front has a single dial with ten holes that turns. It plugs into a special electric wall outlet.
It's almost identical to this...
From Pixabay.
My, has phone technology changed over the years.