Smartphones have changed; an unexpected lost art

Cell phones have radically changed the way we do many things. I think about this a lot and the various implications. People growing up with cell phones from birth are experiencing an entirely different world. It is so ingrained in our new reality that it’s difficult to imagine how we did certain things before them.

Meeting up with people

Back in the day, punctuality and precision of plans were essential. Two friends would set a date, time, place, and actually meet. It was critical that they do so. Flakiness was not achievable through simple thumb movements. You could not stand someone up and simply text and say sorry something came up. Instead, they would wait for a really long time at the location. They would wait until late turned into “I hope everything is ok.” If everything WAS ok, and they're a considerate, inconsiderate friend, you’d come home to a flashing red beep on an answering machine explaining why you’d been canceled on.

Ordering food.

The entire food ordering game is crazy easy now. There are buttons that exist that automatically send your most recent order to the last restaurant so you don’t have to click on the individual menu items again. Scrolling down all the way from apps to desserts. Exhausting. Very 2007. Anyways, we have clearly come a long way from a farmer planting seeds to feed his family. Before cell phones, you at least needed to talk to a human if you were getting delivery. I also feel that the cuisine options for delivery have majorly diversified from the previous market dominance of Pizza and Chinese food being the seemingly exclusive delivery options.

Watching TV, movies, things.

Back in the day, if you missed something on TV, that was it. The Simpsons were on and at 6:30 pm that was it. If you weren’t locked and loaded and ready to go, you missed the episode. There would be trailers all day with teaser elements of that night’s upcoming episodes. I remember missing the episode of the Simpson’s where Homer travels back in time, predating the existence of donuts. This episode was mythological for many years as I was grounded through its airing, after having been tantalized by the teasers all day.

Movies. Blockbuster. You had to walk through a physical place and pick out movies. I get exhausted from scrolling through Netflix feeds and you had to travel to a location where there were finite analog copies of movies. You had to rewind movies before you returned them to the store or incur a fine. You had a deadline for watching the movie. It could get stressful. Late fees. Etc.

Looking up the definition of a word.

You had to have a dictionary, know where it was, sift through every word in the English language in its approximate area, not get a paper cut… and then Siri DOESN’T read it to you in an accent and gender of your choice. Today triple-click and we get that.

One thing, however, that smartphones have really killed, that was near and dear to my heart were prank phone calls. I don’t think the element of boredom is there in the same way when you can access any video, photo, porn video, artwork, etc. The need to produce one’s entertainment by dialing targeting or random numbers has been completely eliminated.

I really enjoyed prank phone calls. I believe they were an interesting craft that dealt with boredom and had various creative applications. Prank phone calls certainly ran the gamut of styles and such… I used to be pretty good. The key to making a good prank phone call was being believable and dealing with a subject that had an incentive to stay on the phone.

Unrecognizable giggles or rudeness can quickly lead to a hang-up. There must be something at stake. I am going to write about a few successful prank phone calls of mine. I’m going to try and think and list the classics here.

PRANK PHONE CALLS

-I told someone selling a Mike Vick Jersey on craigslist that my only reason for wanting the jersey was that my wife had suggested getting a dog and I wanted to send her a message. They laughed. That was it. Short call but I got a big laugh from the seller and from the fine gentlemen in the vehicle with me. Therefore you’re reading about this 8 years later.

-I once had a very long tale occur with someone attempting to sell his Magic Cards, long story short, he threatened my life over the phone multiple times. This was the most intricate and intense prank phone call of my life.

-In boarding school, I used to call several companies and say their answering slogans to them before they could.

-In college, I called the Residential Life office and gave permission for my “daughter” (a friend) to be official roommates with her boyfriend the following year.

I may itemize these as in-depth posts someday. Definitely the magic card one. I would love to talk more at length about prank phone calls and the way.

Anyways, keeping it short but consistent today. Had a busy day but really looking forward to writing to you about various topics. I plan on writing about the immensely historical day that today was. Today was January 6th, 2021, a pivotal day in United States history. A lot has gone on today and I would love to address it. The fact that this has happened, has not been one bit of a surprise to me. In fact, I have been calling it and not resting assured of any outcome, until this moment has been visited and surpassed. We are at a critical and dangerous time, and I look forward to working towards universal needs of peoples that will begin to address the real issues that are widening real problematic divides.