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The "When phones had wires, humans were free" idea ignores that back in the day when the phone rang, you'd stop whatever you were doing and answer it. There was

The "When phones had wires, humans were free" idea ignores that back in the day when the phone rang, you'd stop whatever you were doing and answer it. There was no Caller ID, no voice mail. You picked up the phone not knowing if this was an important work call, a social call from a friend or relative, or somebody trying to sell you something. Yes, a mobile phone means you can be contacted anywhere, but on the flip side you are free to ignore it, safe in knowing that you'll miss nothing of importance. People will leave a message, or at least you can see who called.

rthomas6 6y ago
Mobile phones didn't invent caller ID and answering machines...
- skinnymuch 6y ago
  I don’t recall caller ID being ubiquitous in 99. Answering machines had good penetration though.
  - rthomas6 6y ago
    I was 12 in 99, so my memory isn't great on this, but I remember having it around then. It could have been a few years later, though. I seem to recall that you had to pay extra for it, so most people didn't bother.
    - nonameiguess 6y ago
      Caller ID was first trialed in the consumer market in 1984. Hell, the first patent was filed for it in 1969. The international standard was defined in 1993. It's been around longer than people remember. Plus, we had *69 in the 90s.
    - skinnymuch 6y ago
      Perhaps my family was poorer than average at that point. I saw others on HN saying cell phones were getting ubiquitous in 99 too. I only recall one or two adults around me having a cell during that time.
snakeboy 6y ago
That reminded me of an interview [1] with Matt Weiner, the creator of Mad Men: > "A lot of the most important things in my life have happened to me over the phone," he said, remember that before texting and voicemails, "It's a dramatic situation almost every time when you answer the phone — if you answer the phone." [1] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mad-men-series-finale-matthew-797302 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mad-men-series-finale... (spoiler alert: interview is about the series finale)
laurent92 6y ago
I remember a one-man-show of 1998 where the comic pretends he “succeeded to start cigarette” and how stylish he became. In the middle of the scene he says: “Before starting? I used to go to dates, and when the person was late, I was waiting like this, on the street, arms pending, didn’t know what to do with my hands. NOW I SMOKE!” Joke aside, it highlights that people used to wait a lot. “Meet me at 6 at the library” meant that you might be on the wrong side of the library, you’ll try the other entrance and the person does the opposite, using another path, so you don’t meet, and you don’t know whether they had to cancel. We did far fewer things because anything took a lot of time. Movies were much slower too. Watch Gremlins again, an action movie: It’s so slow! (Counter example: Die Hard is correctly fast-paced for an action movie). To summarize, qualities you’d require would be reliability in appointments and being able to wait a lot without getting bored. We could even make the case that it is now possible to fill loneliness with a mobile phone, whereas it drove more than one into dementia pre-iPhone.

rthomas6 6y ago

Mobile phones didn't invent caller ID and answering machines...

skinnymuch 6y ago
I don’t recall caller ID being ubiquitous in 99. Answering machines had good penetration though.
- rthomas6 6y ago
  I was 12 in 99, so my memory isn't great on this, but I remember having it around then. It could have been a few years later, though. I seem to recall that you had to pay extra for it, so most people didn't bother.
  - nonameiguess 6y ago
    Caller ID was first trialed in the consumer market in 1984. Hell, the first patent was filed for it in 1969. The international standard was defined in 1993. It's been around longer than people remember. Plus, we had *69 in the 90s.
  - skinnymuch 6y ago
    Perhaps my family was poorer than average at that point. I saw others on HN saying cell phones were getting ubiquitous in 99 too. I only recall one or two adults around me having a cell during that time.

snakeboy 6y ago

That reminded me of an interview [1] with Matt Weiner, the creator of Mad Men: > "A lot of the most important things in my life have happened to me over the phone," he said, remember that before texting and voicemails, "It's a dramatic situation almost every time when you answer the phone — if you answer the phone." [1] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mad-men-series-finale-matthew-797302 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mad-men-series-finale... (spoiler alert: interview is about the series finale)

laurent92 6y ago

I remember a one-man-show of 1998 where the comic pretends he “succeeded to start cigarette” and how stylish he became. In the middle of the scene he says: “Before starting? I used to go to dates, and when the person was late, I was waiting like this, on the street, arms pending, didn’t know what to do with my hands. NOW I SMOKE!” Joke aside, it highlights that people used to wait a lot. “Meet me at 6 at the library” meant that you might be on the wrong side of the library, you’ll try the other entrance and the person does the opposite, using another path, so you don’t meet, and you don’t know whether they had to cancel. We did far fewer things because anything took a lot of time. Movies were much slower too. Watch Gremlins again, an action movie: It’s so slow! (Counter example: Die Hard is correctly fast-paced for an action movie). To summarize, qualities you’d require would be reliability in appointments and being able to wait a lot without getting bored. We could even make the case that it is now possible to fill loneliness with a mobile phone, whereas it drove more than one into dementia pre-iPhone.