Information? Get Me Long Distance…

I learned something interesting the other day when I was on the phone with AT&T trying to correct a problem. They don’t consider phone calls outside of your area code to be long distance. In other words, when I call from Arkansas to my mom in Minnesota, it’s a local call. It’s only when I call out of the country that it’s long distance.

Which makes sense, but let’s face it, the idea of long distance is deeply ingrained in me. Let’s do the nostalgia thing. Remember when calling Grandma on Christmas was a treat because she lived 2,000 miles away and calling any other time was simply too expensive? That’s the way it was in my family.

Now things are different. I have relatives all over the country. Until he died, my dad lived in California. My mom still lives in Minnesota and my brother’s in New York. I don’t think twice about calling my mom every day and letting the call go as long as it goes. I used to talk to my dad every Sunday for up to two hours. My brother and I talk frequently and the calls go long.

But I still think of calling them as calling long distance. Frankly, they are long distance. It’s not like I can get in my car and drive over to visit them. Well, I used to drive up to Minnesota to visit my mom, but my car is older now and has a lot of miles on it. I’m nervous about the thought of driving it alone 650 miles each way.

But I digress. Technology is changing everything, including the way we express ourselves. So now I need to re-think the term “long distance” and get with the times. (Isn’t “get with the times” an older expression?) It makes me wonder what other terminology has changed, making my use of it outdated.

Yep, get me information…