How Did We Get Along Without It?

   Yesterday I had lunch with a friend. I pulled out my cell phone to text C and let him know I'd be a bit late getting home. My phone made a squealing noise and then locked up. (It's an old flip phone.) For a few minutes I panicked, what was I going to do? C was going to worry. He's get upset. He'd think something bad had happened to me. I quickly calmed myself down mostly so my friend wouldn't think something was seriously wrong and ate my lunch.
  On the drive home I thought about all the things we have now that we didn't have when I was younger. I also thought about how dependent we are on some of these things. I'll give you a few examples.
  There was a time when we didn't have cell phones. I know that may be hard for some younger people to believe, but it is true. If you needed to call someone you either did it from home or you had to find a pay phone. If you used a pay phone you had to make sure you had some change. Debit cards didn't exist back then either. The fist cell phones were just that, phones. You could call and receive calls and that's it. You couldn't text, get directions, play music and take a selfie all at the same time.
  While we are the subject of phones, they used to have cords. Yes, folks, once upon a time your parents knew where you were hiding if you were talking to someone you weren't supposed to because they could follow the phone cord. In fact, if you happened to have two phones in the house, someone could pick up the other phone and listen in on your conversation. Party lines were a bit before my time, but I have heard there are some interesting stories about them.
  How did we get along without cell phones or smart phones? Well, we did. While some may say that the ability to instantly connect through text and other phone messaging is a good thing I'm not so sure. Sometimes you need a little uninterrupted quiet time. I also think that because of texting there is now an expectation that responses should be immediate.
   There was a time when we didn't have GPS. In fact, we didn't even have Google Maps or MapQuest. If you wanted to get somewhere you hadn't been to before, you used a map. Maps were printed on paper or in books. In past years you looked at the map to plan your route or you had one in the car and had to pull over to look at it to see where you were supposed to go. There was no voice coming out of an electronic device to guide you turn by turn. Sometimes you'd get lost and have to figure out how to get back on track.
  While GPS is a handy tool, they are sometimes a pain. They can direct you to the scenic route when a more direct route is available. They are also just about useless when it comes to road construction. (At least as far as I'm concerned.) I must admit, I do like it when you make a wrong turn and the GPS takes a few minutes to recalculate and gives you a new route.
   There was a time when a pregnant woman did not know if her child would be a boy or a girl. Ultrasound either didn't exist or was so expensive that it wasn't in general use. How did we get along without it? How would you know what  names to pick, what kind of clothing to buy or what colour to paint the baby's room?
  Well, we managed. People picked out both boy and girl names. You could buy baby clothes suitable for either gender. Many things that a baby needs aren't gender specific anyway. Rooms were painted in  colors that would work no matter what.
  At one time we didn't have the internet either. I remember this time. If you had a question about something you couldn't Google it. We had other forms of information. There were dictionaries and encyclopedias. You could call a number and get the time and temperature. You could get a weather report on the radio or TV. We learned where the best sources for information were.
   As handy as all the devices we have now are, I'm not sure we are always better off. We can contact people instantly, but we are losing the ability to see people as fellow human beings. We can find out what the average rainfall is in New Zealand, but we don't know who are neighbors are.
  A few years ago I was at the Minnesota History Center. There was an exhibit of 50 items from Minnesota history. One of the items was an electric typewriter used by a famous journalist. Two preteen girls were looking at it and were confused. They couldn't figure out where the screen was. How was this device used when there was no screen? Obviously they didn't know what a typewriter was. I smiled. At one point in time that typewriter was new technology. People back then probably asked themselves how they got along without it.......