On March 10, 1876, in Boston, Massachusetts, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. The device itself was a crude thing made of a wooden stand, a funnel, a cup of acid, and some copper wire. However, these simple parts and the equally simple first telephone call, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you!” would eventually change the way people communicated.

Before the invention of the telephone, people kept in touch by writing to one another if they lived far away or by simply loading up the family and going for a visit. People would congregate on front porches or around the kitchen table and talk into the wee hours of the night catching up on things.

With the invention of the house phone, it became much easier to just pick up the phone and call people, providing they had a phone also. This saved a lot of time by not having to spend hours writing or traveling. However, it took away the closeness of actually being together. People could also take care of a lot of business by phone and save a trip to town.

Several years later, if you were one of the few that could afford it, the latest technology invited you to own a cordless telephone. Now, not only could you save a trip to visit someone, but you could also do laundry, clean house, or even walk outside, all while talking on the phone. However, in the event of a power outage, you would have to go into the back room and use the “old” phone. This one had a long, winding cord that stretched halfway across the room and never seemed to go back into place without it kinking up into a knot.

Then, along came the car phone. A car phone was simply a phone that sat in the console of your car and ran off batteries. They were big and bulky and weighed around ten pounds. They had a cord at first, until somebody figured out a way to get rid of it. They were very expensive and rare. You were somebody if you could afford one of these babies. Nevertheless, after the newness wore off, it became easier for normal people to acquire.

After a while, these phones started to shrink. As technology kept advancing, eventually, the car phone became what we now know as the cell phone of today. The popularity and easy access of cell phones have made pay phones outdated.

At first, people used the excuse that they needed a cell phone to have just in

case they had car trouble and needed to call for help. It would be a disgrace to have to

ask someone for help or, God forbid, have to walk to the nearest gas station. No, it was much easier to simply pick up the cell phone and call someone else to take care of the problem. Moreover, if someone did happen to stop to offer help, you could say, “I’ve already called someone on my cell phone, thanks anyway.” Unless, of course, your phone happened to be dead, then you could always ask to borrow theirs.

Then some over protective parent had the idea that this would be a great way to keep tabs on their teenagers while they were out with friends. The cell phone would

become the new baby sitter. Therefore, they went out and bought their teenagers cell phones too. Now each family member had his or her very own cell phone. Doing this set off an avalanche. Every teen in America had to have his or her own cell phone also. Now all parents could rest easy.

It is a good idea for a teen to own a cell phone if the teenager drives. Little did we parents know the boys and girls would still find a way to fool us. If parents called to check on them and they did not want to answer, then they could say they had forgotten to charge their phones or had left them in the car.

However, at least parents knew that if their children really did need them, one of their friends would have a cell phone that they could borrow, providing they could get it unglued from the friend’s ear first.

Every member of my family has a cell phone. They do not keep my kids out of trouble or fix my car if it breaks down, but I feel safer knowing that if we need to call one another, the phones are there. That makes a big difference to me.

Everywhere you go there are people walking around going about their business while talking on cell phones. Some even have headsets so that they never even have to stop what they are doing to talk.

As the phones keep shrinking and technology keeps advancing, I look forward to seeing the next generation of phones. How did we ever get by without them? It can be said that a cell phone is like American Express, “Don’t leave home without it.” Thank you, Mr. Bell.