My Morgan,my granddaughter will be twelve in September. Holy Cow ! What does she want ? Her own phone. Well, being my little princess I immediately went to the internet and checked it out. Yup, they still make the princess phone. She is in luck. I did some reading and checking up on it. That phone was introduced in 1959 and is still in production. Oh, some changes and improvements have been made over the years but the basic design is still there. Did you know the original didn't have a ringer ? There wasn't enough room for one. In 1963 they started making a touch tone version. It only had ten push buttons on it, they hadn't included the * or pound sign yet. Of course now we call it a hashtag. Wonder why that is ? Couldn't we just as easily say, pound sign telephone or whatever ? I don't know I had to look hashtag up on Google to understand it.
Seriously though she does want her own phone now. Nowadays that is quite a different thing from the old princess phone. A completely separate phone line, that is really not a line at all, and may or may not include text and data. Picture taking optional and the phone may or may not be smart. So many choices and the cost. A bit different than adding an extension back in '59. I never knew any girl that had her own dedicated phone line in her parents house. Heard of that, but it was more legend than fact. My sister just had to take her calls in the kitchen. That is where the phone was mounted to the wall. It did have a long cord to permit moving about, although that cord sure did get tangled up. It was the only phone in the house. Grandmas phone was a desk model that sat in the parlor.
Well some things never change. Young girls still want a phone. The design of the phone may be different, the very purpose of having the phone may have changed, but the feeling of independence has not. Isn't that what it really represents ? Independence,freedom and a measure of privacy. It is expected today, and almost mandatory. It certainly isn't surprising to find a child of almost any age with a phone nowadays. It is like e-mail. Everybody has e-mail right ? I mean you do have an address. You know one thing I read about the princess phone that amused me, the dial lighted up. It was advertised as acting as a night light and allowed dialing in the dark too. Clandestine communication was popular back in '59 and continues to be so. No change there. Except maybe our calls are being recorded, one never knows. Well that is a different matter altogether.
I expect Morgan is a little behind the curve when it comes to this phone business. Most of her friends already have them. It is just a sign of the times , these modern trappings of adolescence. I had a pocketknife and a shotgun. That is what I wanted and most guys my age wanted that also, or a new bike. A drivers license was still top prize and having your own car the ultimate expression of independence ! I never thought about having a phone, that was a girl thing. I think that has changed, but don't know for sure. Something for a sociologist to study there. Some things really never change.
Seriously though she does want her own phone now. Nowadays that is quite a different thing from the old princess phone. A completely separate phone line, that is really not a line at all, and may or may not include text and data. Picture taking optional and the phone may or may not be smart. So many choices and the cost. A bit different than adding an extension back in '59. I never knew any girl that had her own dedicated phone line in her parents house. Heard of that, but it was more legend than fact. My sister just had to take her calls in the kitchen. That is where the phone was mounted to the wall. It did have a long cord to permit moving about, although that cord sure did get tangled up. It was the only phone in the house. Grandmas phone was a desk model that sat in the parlor.
Well some things never change. Young girls still want a phone. The design of the phone may be different, the very purpose of having the phone may have changed, but the feeling of independence has not. Isn't that what it really represents ? Independence,freedom and a measure of privacy. It is expected today, and almost mandatory. It certainly isn't surprising to find a child of almost any age with a phone nowadays. It is like e-mail. Everybody has e-mail right ? I mean you do have an address. You know one thing I read about the princess phone that amused me, the dial lighted up. It was advertised as acting as a night light and allowed dialing in the dark too. Clandestine communication was popular back in '59 and continues to be so. No change there. Except maybe our calls are being recorded, one never knows. Well that is a different matter altogether.
I expect Morgan is a little behind the curve when it comes to this phone business. Most of her friends already have them. It is just a sign of the times , these modern trappings of adolescence. I had a pocketknife and a shotgun. That is what I wanted and most guys my age wanted that also, or a new bike. A drivers license was still top prize and having your own car the ultimate expression of independence ! I never thought about having a phone, that was a girl thing. I think that has changed, but don't know for sure. Something for a sociologist to study there. Some things really never change.
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