My World With Words

Well, like so many of us, I’ve become dependent on my computer and phone (or mobile device, as they accurately say in some countries). But I lived the first half of my life without a computer, so I know exactly what my life would look like. I’m including cell phones in this post. They’re as much a part of my “computer life” as my laptop is.

Okay, without a phone, you didn’t leave home without change for a phone call. Or money for a cab, if you were on a date and were concerned he might not be the gentleman he appeared to be. For a long time, that call was just a dime. Then it became a quarter–then I’m not sure where it went. It got expensive.

Before there were cell phones, you may have had voice mail, or you may have relied on an answering machine. The latter was a great way to screen calls since it had the caller’s name on it, unless they blocked the number. Can you even block number on a cell phone? I’ve never really looked into it. The other nice thing about answering machines is you could hear your message and pick up the phone if it was someone you wanted to talk to.

But before voice mail or answering machines, you ran to the phone if it rang, because there was no way of knowing who it might be and It Might Be Important. I remember in high school one of my English teachers shocked our class by saying he didn’t always answer his phone when it rang. What if someone needed to reach you? we asked. I don’t remember his answer, or if he even gave one.

Of course there was no texting then, either, so you had to make a call to communicate with someone outside of your home.

My first job out of high school was at a bank. These days everything is done online, but back then, you got paid with a paper check that you had to deposit at a bank. Needless to say, pay days were busy. People would wait an hour in line, and we had fifteen tellers. There were no ATMs, either. The first ones were introduced while I was on that job, and they were game changers. But I don’t remember how you got the cash back, since there was no such thing as a debit card.

If you were sticking to a budget, you might write out checks to pay your bills once a month, then mail them the next day. You needed a lot more stamps back then. If you misplaced a bill, there was no email reminder to pay it and you might get behind in your payments.

Blogs? I guess the closest substitutes for what I’m doing here now would be journals or letters, and that meant hand writing everything. Which brings me to my next point. When I was in high school, I was told not to take typing, because if I knew how to type and my future boss knew this, I’d always be a secretary and could never move up. Through circumstances I won’t describe here, I did take a typing class, but came into the class late in the semester and never caught up. To this day I can’t type particularly well. Thank goodness for spell check.

So, like I said, I know what my life would look like. And I don’t like it.

Image Credits: Typewriter © olegkruglyak; Coins © LONDON2010; Rotary Phone © SRRiadi; Check © HaywireMedia All, stock.adobe.com