In deference to recent Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan, today’s changing times were no more evident to me than when I was recently forced to upgrade my cell phone. It became futile to attempt to keep it going. I finally admitted my eight-ish year old phone was about ready for the Smithsonian. It’s hard to imagine something around 8 years old is now an antique. I guess that would make me a fossil. Mr. Dylan’s original 60’s tune was more of an ode to political change than a reference to technology. But the title certainly still applies today. Particularly in today’s world of ever-changin’ technology.

As I was awaiting service at a local Apple Store, I thought about how as a youth, stores such as this weren’t even a forethought. That was back when Ma Bell provided us with a rotary phone in black (and if you didn’t like that color, you could get black) and our only choice of upgrade was a private line versus a party line. If you had a private line you were quite fortunate and paid considerably more money. If you had a party line like most of us, pretty much everyone on the line knew your business.

Buying a new phone today is fun for some, scary for others. Each phone retailer stocks enough technology for any single user to literally connect with anyone anywhere in the world in seconds, with choices that can make your head spin. An apple store in my day was a farm stand selling autumn’s favorite fruit. By comparison, I worked for twenty years at Digital Equipment Corporation when they were the second largest computer company in the world and the manufacturer of what was then the world’s most powerful minicomputers. The product I eventually carried out of that phone store wielded more processing power than a rack of computers that stood over 6 feet tall and three feet wide. Facts that are both scary and amazing.

With my new phone I can make a call (hands free from my truck no less), play a video game, send a text or Snapchat, Facetime (yes, actually look at someone as I speak to them), surf the web, start my car, check stocks or the latest headlines, order coffee, lunch or dinner, hail a ride or buy whatever I may have a need to purchase online. Ok, it’s no longer just a “phone.” It’s a computer. Do I really need all this capability? Probably not. But admittedly, it is pretty darn cool.

Don’t get me wrong. Technology is a great thing. It has saved lives, improved lives and changed lives. But it has also caused some inconvenience, not to mention irritation. We all are so dependent on our phones that we simply can no longer seem to live without them. As a local comedic sign once read, “When our phones fall, we panic. When a person falls, we laugh.” It’s very true. Think about the last time you lost your phone.

On the irritation side, how many of you have been sitting in a waiting room in a doctor’s office, dealership or dentist, where there is a person talking on a cell phone, oblivious to anyone around them, carrying on like it was their own personal phone booth? (Yes, I do remember phone booths). The same holds true for restaurants. I typically go out to a restaurant to enjoy great food in relative peace and quiet. I really don’t care what your friend will be wearing to the movie or whether you closed that big sales deal. My guess is, neither does anyone else seated near you. Please take it outside!

Now, my biggest pet peeve, sitting at a traffic light that has turned green, waiting for the driver in front of you to put that phone down! Or a driver yapping on the phone while weaving in and out of traffic. News flash – you are a traffic hazard! Pay attention to driving!

Alas, I guess you can just call me old fashioned. Ok then, just call me old. OK, then just call me fossil.

Don Canney is a freelance writer and professional voice artist. He was born and raised in downtown Nashua with great interest in Nashua history circa 1950-1970. He now resides in Litchfield.

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