Remember Long Distance Charges? Calling Cards? And the Futuristic Idea of Telephones with Video?

People of my generation often comment about the amazing advancements we’ve seen. Communication progress has astounded our wildest dreams. When I was in middle school the year 2000 seemed so far away! And by then we would surely all be using the metric system.  In high school the idea of a telephone with a TV screen attached so you could see the person you were talking with seemed the ultimate futuristic gadget. We pictured it in the kitchen right next to the wall phone; of course it had a cord connecting the handset. The biggest concern was that one would need to be “ready” – meaning, well dressed with hair brushed to use this type of telephone.

Now I video chat often and post pictures of myself without a thought to the status of my hair (sometimes I care, but when enjoying NYC with my daughters or hoping to inspire others with my running pictures, it’s “messy hair, don’t care.”)

Skype is the first video chat service I recall and I’ve used it to talk to the girl we sponsored  in Ukraine. When my oldest spent a semester in Rome, Italy our T-Mobile service allowed for unlimited text & data, but a small charge for talk.  We started with Facetime, but found better reception using Google Hangouts.  It truly is amazing to think when I was in college, someone overseas for a semester had to WRITE LETTERS and then wait for weeks for a response.  Kids, we did have telephones and could make a call, but there was this thing called “long distance” charges that were cost prohibitive until the 1980s.  Calls just one state over incurred charges pretty high. Even in-state calls outside of your immediate surrounding towns cost money.  This is why companies began using 800 numbers – so you could call them for free.

My son resides in the largest dormitory in the world, Bancroft Hall on the U.S. Naval Academy.  Located on a secured military base (although Navy folk call them “yards”), the hall is built like fortress thus restricting data signals.  Initially he would go outside to telephone (located on the water, lots of wind noise), but then found he could use OoVoo from his laptop (wired) for the weekly calls home.  The calls often last a half hour or more as he gets comfortable on his end, and I and other family members hangout around my laptop.  Both parties may open another window and look things up to share or just multitask. Last year’s roommates would notice the parents and say hello or wave from the background, Twice this year I’ve been on a video chat call and his roommate has started undressing in the background. I have to start waving wildly at the camera and yell “someone’s changing!”  Everyone has a good laugh and boy, have we come a long way from that kitchen wall phone with the long cord.

(Since my heart healthy lifestyle is plodding along s….l….o…..w…..l……y, albeit successfully I need to find more to blog about. My head fills with ideas while I’m on my daily walk/run, but when I sit down to write, all ideas have vacated the chamber.)