Me 2 years ago in Idaho in the middle of nowhere. Traveling off the grid can be frustrating in and out of reception. In the vastness of the West sometimes you lose your way. Goodness, what is one to do? Um, get out a map. My husband likes topo maps. You can only see small areas at a time and then you must keep flipping to other pages as you travel the route. This sets me over the edge. It takes brains to figure that out. Doesn't he know my brain is inside the smartphone? That is why it is called a smartphone. All my smarts have been surrendered to the phone. Traveling along we stumble upon this payphone. In the middle of nowhere chances are cell reception is non existent. For those of you who are too young to know what this box is let me fill you in. It is a phone that takes change. In return you can make a phone call. Imagine that. If you are wondering why your parents told you to be sure you have money for emergencies, this would be that kind of emergency. Not just paper money, but actual coin. If you only carry plastic you are So Out of Luck. As a youngster we had landlines. Landlines were accessed through stationary phones that sat on a table or attached to the wall, but never in one's pocket. Phones had a cord that if properly worn could stretch into other rooms. When you placed the phone back into the "jack" the cord twisted up into a tight little rope. A fun thing about the old landline was the party line. What is that? It allowed for eavesdropping on unsuspecting phone calls. Sometimes phone lines crossed wires and you could hear other people's conversations that were not within your household. True gossip, free for the listening. All phones within a household shared the same number. If you were sneaky you could pick up the phone in the other room and listen to family gossip not meant for you. If you were on a call and your parents wanted you off the phone all they did was pick up another phone in the house and say "Get off the Phone" and wait until you did. I traveled into the mountains of Maine and the roads were lined with phone lines waist high. The few homes there were connected to the same line. No doubt alot of eavesdropping going on there. Simpler times. You had to use your brain and imagination to survive. No hanging your head in a device to guide you. You needed to self sustain...figure it out. Go look it up in the dictionary and all that. Three weeks ago I deactivated all Socials. Without my head in the phone I am reading more, writing more and figuring life out the old fashioned way - by looking around instead of down. Making my own choices instead of giving that right away to others. All while keeping my blood pressure down 👍. So while technology has it's advantages, keep connected to opportunities that are simpler and require brain power like nature or even reading a map!
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