Nearly everyone I know has a cell phone that displays the caller’s name and number when the phone rings. Some can even pop up a photo of the caller. It’s extremely handy. This isn’t exactly new tech; even in the US, Caller ID was introduced in the 90s. These days, I don’t answer the phone unless I know who is calling.
It got me thinking about how phone transactions have changed over time.
1894: Operator-assisted calls required long waits and sometimes multiple transactions before conversation commenced.
“Operator. How may I direct your call?”
“Albany, New York, please.”
1954: Before conversing, you needed to have a brief exchange to determine who was on the other end of the line.
“Hello, Jones residence. Myra speaking. May I ask who’s calling?”
“Hi, Myra, this is Jane.”
2004: Technology allows preliminaries to be skipped. With a glance at the display, the person answering can just start talking.
“You’re running late?”
“Sorry. At Shinjuku now. I’ll be about 20 minutes…”
One thing I observed a few years ago is that you used to call a place.
Now you call a person.
Telephones have become such a personal item, too, like a hairbrush or a pair of slippers. I’m never comfortable using someone else’s…
Posted by: Jim O'Connell on January 13, 2004 04:00 PMI don’t answer either unless I know who is calling. Mainly because it costs me $.25/minute. I am stingy! And I will just check the messages from home later which won’t eat up my airtime.
And I agree, I don’t feel right using someone else’s keitai.
Posted by: Barron on January 14, 2004 06:57 AM