The Olden Days II

[naomikritzer]

My brother and sister-in-law are in town, and last night I had Nate, Melissa, and Abi over for dinner. We were talking about the road trips our family took through Europe the year my father was on sabbatical (we spent 1986-87 living in London, and traveled out from there to all sorts of places) and the ridiculous number of car troubles we had. (For instance, the muffler fell off our car repeatedly as we were driving around Norway.)

Abi remembered most vividly an incident where our car broke down on a Sunday in a tiny town in Belgium. Nothing was open, no one was around, and we couldn't find a phone.

Molly piped up and asked, "Why didn't you just use your cell phone?"

I hadn't even thought of cell phones when listing out things that were really different during my childhood.

Comments

[cammykitty.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, the cell phone is really a bad invention when it comes to contemporary fiction. All sorts of wonderful adventures and disasters are avoided because the MC remembered the blasted cell phone.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

There are ways around that, though.

The last time I had that problem, I had my character imprisoned deep underground -- no reception.

Next time, the characters are going to be backpacking in the back country where there are no cell towers.

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

Hey now - I didn't get my first cell phone until less than a year ago :)

[naomikritzer]

I went for a long time without a cell phone. Nonetheless, their ubiquitousness makes it very easy to find a phone even if you don't own one -- if you're with other people, they've probably all got cell phones you can borrow in a pinch. Much easier than wandering around looking for a pay phone.

[waterfall8484]

Sometimes I wonder how I ever managed without my mobile phone...

And as a Norwegian I have to ask - where in Norway were you?

[naomikritzer]

Uhhhhhhh, good question. We arrived by ferry from Sweden and initially went briefly to Oslo, I think. Then we went off and stayed at a rustic little resort with cute little cabins, from which we could easily visit fjords, mountains, and glacier(s). I know, I'm sure that narrows it right down.

The scenery was stunning. I would love to go back there with Ed, who really likes beautiful natural areas as vacation destinations.

[naomikritzer]

Okay, I e-mailed my father and asked, and he says we went to Sogne Fiord.

[jimlawrence.livejournal.com]

The cell phone has definitely changed crime/adventure/thriller/private eye fiction. No longer is there a need to find a pay phone. Everyone has a cell phone -- and probably with a built-in camera so they can take photographs or even video and then e-mail the photographic evidence to the cops. (Actually, back around 1992 or so David Brin predicted all of this in one of his science fiction novels.)

We have become so accustomeed to our connectivity that we forget how recent all of this is (and how very primitive it still is compared with what will come in the near future). The other day I was having trouble with getting an Internet connection on one of my computers and switching to a different cable (one that worked just fine with another computer in the same room) so I thought perhaps I had a bad network card. So sitting there in front of the computer with the possible bad NIC card, my first reaction was search for NIC reviews and pricing information. (Duh... on a machine that couldn't get online which is why I needed the information in the first place. If they do a remake of Dumb and Dumber, I wonder which role I should audition for.)

Actually, come to think of it, how long ago would using the phrase "one of my computers" get you a funny look.

But I grew up with radio... was almost ten years old when we got our first television.

[naomikritzer]

So sitting there in front of the computer with the possible bad NIC card, my first reaction was search for NIC reviews and pricing information.

I have so totally done that. (Well, okay, attempted to Google for information to help me out when my problem was, I couldn't get online.)