Communicating with people, other than in person, has come a long way. Earlier forms of communication included scratching pictures on rocks and trees for others to read, body language, smoke signals, shooting of firearms and tapping on something. Code languages were used especially during war. Horse back message deliverers were counted on. Then came the telegraph system for faster delivery. The mailing system used the Pony Express and later the railroads to carry mail faster.

Radio and television opened doors of communicating. News and weather reports were delivered to the house as well as entertainment programs.

The telephone was patented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. By 1904, more than three million phones in the U.S. were connected by manual switchboard exchanges and soon calls were made from coast to coast in the U.S. and abroad.

The first phone I remember was the wall mounted phone in a wooden box. It had a hard black plastic speaker device hooked with a covered wire from the wooden main box. It rested upon a holder on the side of the box. This black plastic receiver when in use was taken off the holder and put to a person’s ear in order to hear. There was a microphone on the side of the box that was turned to contact someone on the party line or to an operator. When wanting to talk to someone, a person had to place his mouth next to another black hard plastic piece that was placed on the middle, front of the main box, then talk into it. This phone was often called a “crank phone.” The number of turns made on the metal crank signaled on the party line who the call was for. When the phone rang, a person had to listen for the number of rings, perhaps two longs and two shorts, or what ever your home phone was assigned. That meant you could answer it. If it had different rings, then the call was for someone else on the party line.

Being on a party line was an adventure, as others on your party line could always pick up the receiver quietly and listen to the conversation. There was a “trusting” party line system. It was understood listening in was not a polite thing to do. Yet, some on the party line would ignore being polite and listen in to get the latest news. There was an emergency party line ring used if help was needed. When I was a child the emergency party line ring was used by my parents when our house had a fire in its chimney.

Changes in the telephone system came when the rotary dial system was introduced. The modern phones could be placed on a walls or set on one’s desk or table. The “receiver”was taken off the phone and placed on the ear and to the mouth. Numbers on the rotary dial were spun to make a connection with a party listed in the telephones book. Of course, these phones could not be carried around from room to room, so most of time people sat or stood to talk on the phone.

Long distance calls could even be made but mostly through an operator at first. Eventually the rotary dial telephone got “hip” with the times and in people’s choices in interior decorating as colored phones came into being. There were green, blue, red, yellow and tan colored phones. Of course, with my mother’s love for red, we had a red wall hanging phone in the kitchen and a black desk phone. Then it even got more “chic” in the telephone’s styling. They even came in shapes, like slippers, dogs and kittens. Mother gave me one she found at an auction that was in the shape of the grand piano. I assume these shaped phones went in people’s bedrooms.

The next change was the replacement of the rotary dial with a push buttons numbered on the phone. Instead of dialing a phone number, buttons were pushed to make a connection.

In 1973, Motorola introduced the cell phone. Cell phones are costly but popular and offer many services. People can communicate easily by texting, messages, using applied apps, calling, joining social groups, among many other possibilities. You can keep up with the weather reports, news reports, play games, calculate, listen to music, take photos, find directions, send emails, file, translate, make reminder notes and many more uses.

This line of communication can be good, but it can also cause trouble if used in the wrong way. Many times words are texted that a person would not have been said in person to someone and feelings can be hurt. Children and teens can sustain emotional damage by bullying. Sometimes people become connected with people they shouldn’t be connected with.

If used in the right way, cell phones are good, but we must remember to keep verbal and written communicating with others going. Spoken words and written words should not be replaced.