Missed Calls

The advancements in communications over the past 50 years is mind boggling. In my lifetime, which is well over 50 years, we've gone from having every phone call that was made from home facilitated with the assistance of a live telephone operator, to wireless texting that is instantaneous. And it's not only for a small calling area, but across the globe. I can text a friend in Europe and receive a reply in mere seconds.

But let's go back a few years . . . to how it was when I was growing up. My family lived five miles from town and the telephone was our lifeline. My earliest memories of our phone is of the heavy black one that sat on a table in the living room, just around the corner from the kitchen. When it rang, we had to halt whatever we were doing and count the rings. We were on a party line with five other families in our neighborhood, two of whom were both my maternal and paternal grandparents. We were the terminal phone on the line and we had to hear six rings before answering. Of course, as you can imagine, in a busy household with kids playing, the dog barking, my mother working in the kitchen, outdoors at the clothesline or in one of her flower gardens, we would often miss hearing the first one or two rings, or all six, so we'd miss the call.

orbis Historical via Getty Images

Photo: Corbis Historical via Getty Images

My mother was a social person and loved to talk on the phone. When she sat down for a break in the afternoon, she often called someone for a chat. She also took calls from buyers who called to schedule picking up truckloads of hay, straw, seed wheat, dry beans and potatoes.

When I was around 10 or 12 years old, the phone company modernized and upgraded to dial phones. It felt odd to spin the dial on the phone instead of talking to an operator. The numbers changed, too. They doubled in length. Our number changed from four numerals and one letter to an area code followed by seven numerals. But we now had the convenience of directly dialing any number in our phone company, or other companies, without operator assistance. This convenience changed our lives a little, but changed the lives of the operators and their families tremendously when their jobs were eliminated.

In his article, "The Rise And Fall of Telephone Operators",

https://www.history.com/news/rise-fall-telephone-switchboard-operators, Greg Daugherty writes, "With the coming of the 1930s, technology that allowed telephone users simply to dial another phone without the aid of an operator had become widespread. Phone companies took advantage of the moment to slash their workforces, and thousands of operators lost their jobs." Our rural road finally caught up with the rest of the world in the 1960's!

The new dial phones could be installed in more than one room in the house. You could get long cords that allowed you to hide in a closet or, as in our house, the stairwell, for quiet conversations. Party lines became a thing of the past and private lines were available even on our remote road! Eventually answering machines, and later on messaging services through the phone company, became available on our home phones. I enjoyed the convenience tremendously. 

Today missed calls are noted on the screen of our smartphones. The caller has the option to leave a recorded message. It's not easy to miss a call when the phone in your pocket or purse has a distinctive ring, often customized, and has the optional setting to vibrate. If a call comes in at an inconvenient time, you can set your smartphone up to automatically text the caller to let them know you are busy. Times have indeed changed.

Like my mother, I love to talk on the phone. I like short calls to check in on a friend, long calls while I sew, knit, work on papercrafting, and even while I work in the kitchen, thanks to my noise cancelling earbuds. However, even placing calls to friends and family has changed. Instead of just dialing someone's number, the current trend is to text first, find out if they're available for a call or not, and then proceed. For me, it takes away the spontaneity of just reaching out when you think of it. Often my friends and family want to schedule our calls. I oblige, but it still feels very strange to me. Having appointments to talk on the phone means I need to alter my plans so I'll be available when it fits their schedule. Isn't voice messaging enough? If someone can't answer, or doesn't want to, the caller can leave a voice message. Am I the only one who finds this strange?

The phrase "missed calls" has a double meaning for me. I miss calls in the traditional sense, but I also really miss calls that I used to make freely and moreover, used to receive. My phone rarely rings these days. Instead, I receive a lot of text messages. I think that text messages are great for several kinds of communication, especially the hearing impaired; but for an authentic conversation, there is nothing that will ever replace the human voice. Hearing someone's laughter, the concern in their voice, or their excitement is lost to me in words typed on a screen. When I am alone and in my old age someday, will I recall those special moments when I received a text message? I don't think so. But I believe I will remember a certain phone call, the voice at the other end and the comfort that I felt in the connection over the telephone. And, for me, that is important.

Missed calls. Yes. I miss them. But if you call me and I can't answer, please leave a voice message. I will call you back!

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. As always, your questions and comments are welcome here on my blog or on my Facebook post. Kindly add your name, initials or something that will identify you to me when you post comments on my blog. Blogger doesn't always recognize my friends and calls everyone "anonymous"! I love to read your comments and after I've read and approved them, they'll appear on my blog.

It is my sincere wish that you and those you love are happy and healthy. And until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Emmy