Feeling old

[TarnishedPenny]

Just stepped away from writing to do some pausing and pondering.

What I’d just written was a conversation with the character using their smart phone. I ended it by saying that she ‘hung up’. Now, there’s a dated expression. How long has it been since anybody literally hung the receiver in a cradle to end a call?

And why do I think of it as ‘writing’ when I was banging away on a keyboard?

Sigh.

 

[AchtungNight]

I had to remind myself recently a character would not have access to a cell phone in a story set in 1995. She would have to wait until the bus stopped and use a pay phone- at least those would be available.

 

[StillStunned]

How long has it been since anybody literally hung the receiver in a cradle to end a call?

I remember having to phone the medical centre on a cruise ship four or five years ago. Come to think of it, most phones in hotel rooms have an old-fashioned cradle.

But I get your point. How long before no-one alive remembers what the "end call" icon actually represents? Or the "save" icon?

 

[lustychimera]

"Dial their number" when rotary phones are dead, dead, dead.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I had to remind myself recently a character would not have access to a cell phone in a story set in 1995. She would have to wait until the bus stopped and use a pay phone- at least those would be available.

I dimly remember pay phones.

 

[StillStunned]

I dimly remember pay phones.

I remember freezing on cold winter nights when I called my girlfriend. More romantically, I remember calling the same girlfriend on a summer's night, with someone was playing a saxophone about ten metres away.

 

[KeithD]

What I’d just written was a conversation with the character using their smart phone. I ended it by saying that she ‘hung up’. Now, there’s a dated expression. How long has it been since anybody literally hung the receiver in a cradle to end a call?

Yesterday, when I answered a spam call I thought was a doctor's office. Point taken, but I don't have a smart phone, have never taken a call on the flip phone I keep for travel support, and I do still have a landline. I do have trouble bringing to bear the current action for such things as phone calls and computer keying.

 

[lovecraft68]

Just stepped away from writing to do some pausing and pondering.

What I’d just written was a conversation with the character using their smart phone. I ended it by saying that she ‘hung up’. Now, there’s a dated expression. How long has it been since anybody literally hung the receiver in a cradle to end a call?

And why do I think of it as ‘writing’ when I was banging away on a keyboard?

Sigh.

It took me some time to get over doing that and swapping to "they ended the call."

I find myself using expressions or making some song or tv reference and then thinking...would a younger person even understand what I mean?

But I turned 56 last week so I'm feeling old in general these days.

 

[intim8]

I dimly remember pay phones.

For a few years I had a job that involved waiting for my pager to go off and then finding a pay phone to call in for a gig.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Pager. There’s another. Mind you, I saw quite a few hospital staff wearing them recently.

 

[OffNSFW]

I'm reading this on the pocket-sized touchscreen computer I keep on my pocket that we still refer to as a "phone."

 

[THBGato]

Do you remember calling your girlfriend from the upstairs house phone and then your Mum picks up the downstairs handset at just the wrong moment?

No? Just me?

 

[gunhilltrain]

I remember having to phone the medical centre on a cruise ship four or five years ago. Come to think of it, most phones in hotel rooms have an old-fashioned cradle.

But I get your point. How long before no-one alive remembers what the "end call" icon actually represents? Or the "save" icon

I'm not sure how I refer to stopping a cellphone call. Not "hang up," but maybe just "I'm going now?" Or, "I got cut off," if it's unintentional.

I don't mean this as a criticism, but I'm struck at how short people's "historical" memories are. Basically, anything before their own living memories gets pretty vague. My granparents (born 1899-1904) remember gas lighting and when autos were a rarity. Go back to 1824 and whoever my ancestors were in Europe (they have long been forgotten) may have known steamboats on rivers but not railroads. 1724? An entirely different world. Not that's old!

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm old enough that stuff that doesn't seem like it should be old is now old. Like that awful screechy sound when dial up Internet access was connecting. I remember Alta Vista. I remember working with a DOS operating system when I started working. Y2K. I remember when OJ and Bill Cosby were thought of as good guys. Blackberries. Flip phones. Man, it was years ago that my son first said "OK Boomer" to me.

 

[AchtungNight]

Never liked OJ. His trial was my first exposure to him- I thought we should stop talking about it, get back to more pressing issues like our classes or school activities. Still like Michael Jackson’s music and wish I could jam to it without remembering the controversy.

 

[StillStunned]

I'm not sure how I refer to stopping a cellphone call. Not "hang up," but maybe just "I'm going now?" Or, "I got cut off," if it's unintentional.

I usually say "ring off". Or "exit the cybersphere".

 

[intim8]

Like that awful screechy sound when dial up Internet access was connecting.

There's YouTube videos of that. So nostalgiac. "I'm connecting! I'm going to be talking to people all over the world!"

 

[StillStunned]

There's YouTube videos of that. So nostalgiac. "I'm connecting! I'm going to be talking to people all over the world!"

I remember the joys of running a business, but not being able to check my emails and get my phone at the same time.

 

[Trionyx]

But I turned 56 last week so I'm feeling old in general these days

Wait another decade or two!

 

[lovecraft68]

Wait another decade or two!

That's what my father says "You ain't seen nothing yet, kid" and he proved that by having triple bypass last year.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I usually say "ring off". Or "exit the cybersphere".

Those are new to me.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I remember the joys of running a business, but not being able to check my emails and get my phone at the same time.

I almost miss the pre-cellphone era. You'd walk out the door and virtually disappear unless you told someone where you were going. You could call them on a payphone but they couldn't reach you. And you don't always want to have someone (like your boss or maybe even a relative) contacting you.

 

[Trionyx]

virtually disappear unless you told someone where you were going.

Now they’ve got phone tracker apps so they can pinpoint exactly where you are.

 

[SimonDoom]

I almost miss the pre-cellphone era. You'd walk out the door and virtually disappear unless you told someone where you were going. You could call them on a payphone but they couldn't reach you. And you don't always want to have someone (like your boss or maybe even a relative) contacting you.

Yes to this. I dislike "24/7" culture, as though it's a good thing that you are reachable and trackable at all times, anywhere, everywhere. Sometimes it's good to be off the grid.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yesterday, when I answered a spam call I thought was a doctor's office. Point taken, but I don't have a smart phone, have never taken a call on the flip phone I keep for travel support, and I do still have a landline. I do have trouble bringing to bear the current action for such things as phone calls and computer keying.

More than half the calls I get on on both the cell and landline are spam. I look at the voicemail on the cell later to see what's worth it. Landlines have an advantage in that I can see the red light blinking if someone bothered to leave a message. Also, it's becoming more likely to lose a call by accident on the newer smartphones. Also, the position of the microphone is more awkward than it used to be.

For a long time now I've felt no obligation to answer either one merely because it's ringing. If the caller ID on the landline has something like "Pine Bluff, AR" I know for sure it's spam.