Evolution of the phone

A little over a week ago I dropped my cell phone for about the 8th time in the span of two weeks. It did not recover. About 48 hours elapsed from the time that I realized that my phone was not coming back from that fateful fall until the time I was able to purchase a new one (which was an encounter that could possibly have made it into Ripley's for the worst customer service in history). Those 48 hours were filled with anxiety... I had no access to my phone numbers (many of which I had not written down anywhere else), had to wonder if I was missing a few expected calls from people who only had my cell number, fumbled with an old alarm clock every morning because I was used to using my phone's alarm, and got to experience that naked feeling that you get whenever you realize you left your phone behind each and every time I got into my car. I had no idea that I was so dependent on it to keep connected.

My new phone really rocks, though. It's an LG Dare -- a touch screen phone similar to the iPhone. I really wanted an iPhone. But to get an iPhone I would have to switch networks and I couldn't justify leaving Verizon when most of our friends and family are IN. I think it was a good choice. I like everything about it except perhaps its web browser, which is a little slow and cumbersome. It's great for texting, great for viewing photos and it has a really cool 3.2 megapixel camera with built-in flash (handy for snapping blog photos). So, I'm once again connected.

Even though I clearly love (or desperately need) my cell phone, I was thinking this week about how phones used to be. When I was a teenager, we got to talk to our friends on a good old landline with a super long twisty cord (so you could pull the phone all the way to your bedroom and talk in private). Of course there was the constant annoyance of little sisters picking up while you were trying to have a conversation.... "Get off the phone! (5 second pause) I know you're on there... I can hear you breathing. MOM! Tell Susie/Tracy/Jena to hang up the phone!"... But even so, there was some quality about conversations back then that we don't have anymore. You could almost hear a pin drop on the other end of the line. You could certainly whisper and still hear each other clearly when talking to your best friend late into the night (long after you were told to hang up). It seems like that intimacy isn't there anymore. Does anyone else know what I mean?