My 'landline' is terrible. It frequently does not work. Years ago that might have driven me demented. Imagine not being able to contact or be contacted immediately.
Now, however, I communicate less by my 'landline' phone than by a myriad of other methods.
My cellphone, an iPhone, lives with me and on it I can communicate in such a variety of ways it still amazes me. One can Skype (which is the ability to talk with or without video to anyone else on Skype anywhere in the world - free - or one can send text messages to anyone on Skype - free - or one can send text messages to any cellphone in the world for a few pence/cents as compared with the expensive inter-country cellphone provider texts). I can Facetime (free video chat between any Apple product anywhere). I can iMessage (free texting between iPhones anywhere). One can text chat for free when playing a variety of on-line games like Words With Friends (a sort of Scrabble for two). Then there is good old texting between any two cellphones anywhere (but, internationally, at a price). There are emails - usually used for longer messages and not necessarily requiring an immediate response - to which can be attached photos or documents. There is messaging on Google, Facebook, Twitter.....the list and the possibilities are endless. There are doubtless many things I have forgotten to mention and, oh, I nearly forgot, the iPhone can be used to make phone calls as well.
In addition I can do many of those things from my Macbook and from my iPad.
I love the ability to communicate with friends and play games like Words With Friends and chat with people on the other side of the world.
Just imagine if (when?) the internet is compromised and all that becomes impossible - even for an hour.
So today I am thankful for all the means of communication that are now available to enable me to share the lives of my friends wherever they, or I, may be.
Note: 'Free' means no costs additional to those incurred in linking to the internet.
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Long may it last..... Love my Apple Suite of toys too
ReplyDeleteIndeed Fiona, me too!
DeleteWell I'm still thankful that I have a working landline, because when I have to make calls to some businesses or even government departments, the myriad of voice answering prompts that one must endure is frightening, and can easily add up to the cost, if it were a cellphone call.
ReplyDeleteI do love all my other means of communication though, I don't think I could live without them.
I lost my internet signal for about half an hour recently and I felt like a fish out of water.
We are now spoiled in this regard, aren't we?
Yes Virginia half an hour with no internet signal and all of a sudden life as we know it ends!
DeleteThe trouble we're facing now may be that there are so many ways of communication that we risk losing track of checking up on them all. My Android phone notifies me of most things nowadays though. In connection with the new broadband here we're getting lots of offers about switching from landline to IP telephony... Would be cheaper, but I decided to wait with that decision. Feel safer keeping the landline phone for now.
ReplyDeleteThat's true Monica. I have kept my landline with British Telecom in the UK but it's just too expensive here for the number of international calls I make and I am only here for 6 months of the year. Local calls are free in NZ but I rarely, if ever, use it for local calls.
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ReplyDeleteWe are lucky, I know, but I do regret the passing of letter-writing. There will be no love letters any more. I have a box full in the attic, which are full of memories. The ones from my first husband are particularly special. But nowadays, kids won't have those. And when I was counselling couples, oh! the trouble people got into when their partner read their text messages!I never did understand why people didn't delete these. They caused no end of trouble.
ReplyDeleteThey don't get deleted for the very same reason that people kept love letters Frances. I downloaded all my texts many years ago when I was 'romantically involved'. I still have them. One advantage is that I have both sides of the exchanges. I,too, still have my early love letters and a complete lifetime's correspondence with a childhood friend who has lived in Canada since her 20s (and with whom I now phone and Facetime). I still write the occasional letter (and use a fountain pen) when I want the missive to mean so much more than a transient message.
DeleteI meant that the illicit ones should be deleted! People check each other's phones, find lengthy and very steamy correspondence with a lover, and all hell's let loose. The checking of itemised phone bills is another trick.
DeleteEither the internet finds more capacity or the average Joe will be priced out of the market. As you say it is amazing right now.
ReplyDeleteHopefully it will be the former Red.
DeleteYes, I agree, all you need is a few Apple products to keep in touch with anyone in the world. I see my grandsons every week on my MacBook. My own children were never able to see their grandparents.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Bill. Good to see you here. I find it more astonishing that the family's youngsters find it impossible even to believe what life was like before communication was instant and global.
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