Remember Life Before Cell Phones?

Yes, those days actually existed—the good ol' days, as I call 'em. I suppose that by now, it seems so long ago—so long, in fact, that there's a whole generation of young folks brought up on cellphones, who probably don't even remember a time when there weren't any. Which is kinda sad...

But if you can believe this, there was a time when we only had wired "home phones"—like the standard-issue Pink Princess that I remember as a kid—and people actually had to be "at the house" in order to be reached by phone! Sounds quite limiting by today's standards, I'm sure. But we just don't know what freedom we've given up by allowing cellphones, as well as other modern-day gadgetry, to become such an ubiquitous part of our daily lives.

Nowadays, I can't even decide to leave my cellphone at home on a Saturday—for the sake of enjoying a carefree weekend—without loved-ones complaining at me for not having answered their midday calls. My girlfriend even gets offended at the idea of my cellphone not being fully juiced and on my person at all times. "What if I were in an emergency—how would I get in touch with you?"

It's a valid point, right? But nothing worth trying to make me feel guilty about, as if I'm forsaking my loved-ones just because I decide to take a much-needed "personal day" from the world at large. Because one of the "freedoms" we trade for this 24/7 connectivity—via the various mobile devices we keep strapped to ourselves, even while on the toilet, as if the world would come to a sudden halt without us knowing everything that's happening—is our sanity.

I dunno about you, but I'm all about keeping that part of me intact, as best as possible; and I make no apologies for it. So some days, I see fit to leave all the techno-gear behind—so I can think, regenerate, and just live at my own pace for awhile.

All that's well and good and understood; but even so, we still have a tendency to operate otherwise. Why so? It makes you wonder, does anyone really remember what we did before cellphones came along? I mean, how did we ever survive?

—grif