What I Learned From a Landline.

Growing up in the 1960's, we had one telephone in our house.  In fact, we only had one car and one television.  We did have four bedrooms though, to house a family of ten. As the third child, I was fortunate to learn from my older brother and sister.  They were the pioneers.

When the phone rang in our house, we were taught to answer it like this:  Herman's residence, Mary speaking.  We learned at an early age, how to be polite on the telephone.  We also learned a big word like 'residence'.  I wonder how many tweens know what a residence is?

There was only one phone, so we had a schedule.  We were only allowed a certain number of minutes on the phone. We learned time management. We learned bargaining and compromise.  Heck, we memorized all of our friends phone numbers!  Nowadays, I can remember those 'old' numbers, but hardly any of my friends or family's 'new' cell phone numbers.  Why should I, when I have a smart phone? 

The answer to that is obvious to me - I should memorize them as that would make me smart.  It would make me use my marvelous brain. My smart phone is making me not so smart.

In a day where homes no longer have landlines, what is a tween to do?