Empowerment Without a Personal Touch | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Empowerment Without a Personal Touch | Previous Challenge Entry
By
11/25/10
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Everyone in the United States uses the telephone. It’s a great way to communicate. When the telephone was first introduced the telephone had to be hand cranked to send a signal through. This was before I started using the telephone. As a young boy, when I first started using the telephone there was a hand dial with a rotor. One would put their finger through a small hole on the dial and move the dial clockwise as far as it would go to dial a number. This process was slow and cumbersome. Now, all the phones I’ve used in the past 35 years have been push button. Phones have been automated to the degree where one can automatically dial a person by voice or by computer.

Telephones truly empower a person. Instead of being limited to communicate directly to a person telephones allow a person to connect to people at any distance. Astronauts have had telephone conversations from the moon. There is three way conferencing and teleconferencing allowing meetings to take place with offices on the other side of the country using telephones. It takes only 15 seconds to connect a number by phone. A single person can connect with several hundred different people in one day. Telephones can be used by any company trying to establish sales, obtain funds, or promote politicians. Volunteer organizations call my house asking for clothes, furniture, and money. Whenever there is an election whether local or national my telephone rings constantly trying to persuade my vote. Use of the telephone is firmly entrenched in our society.

Telephone awareness begins at an early age. I remember playing with plastic play phones when I was toddler. This experience of using a phone helped train me for telephone use later in life. Telephones are an integral part of society and being able to communicate on the phone is vital for everyone. Emergency services can be obtained over the telephone. There is nothing hard about using a telephone. Everyone can call a number and communicate. There is a story about a golden retriever dialing 911 and summoning help. The dog saved the owner’s life. As a youth I never experienced a real phone except at my home. When I was growing up phones were regulated to home, businesses, or pay phones on the street. From the time I entered first grade until about age 15 my friends and I used a telephone very little. My family had two phones on one line. If one wanted privacy they had to go to another part of the house. The other phone was in the kitchen. We all shared the phone. This was no problem because the phone was not an integral part of our lives.

Now, it is different. I work with a woman who has an eleven year old daughter. The daughter told her mother she wanted a cell phone for her birthday. The little girl said, “Besides all my friends have cell phones.” For her birthday she got a cell phone. This woman’s teenage sons have personal cell phones. The girl takes the cell phone to school with her. School children now have cell phones and use them on the playground, school buses, and in the cafeteria. Telephone use is permeating our youth, let alone society.

With the advent of cell phones, the use of cell phones has proliferated. Phone use has increased with personal cell phones. Families, instead of having one or two phones in the house have cell phones for all members of the family. When I’m in the grocery store, driving my car, or just out in public I see people talking on their cell phone all the time. In my job it is vital to have a cell phone for communication. I work with a walkie-talkie and a cell phone. If my walkie-talkie doesn’t work I can always connect with my cell phone. I’m dependent on my cell phone to do my job.

One place I don’t see cell phones being used is at church. When people congregate after church the conversations are face to face. People engage each other by looking into their eyes and greeting each other warmly. Church brings people together. By being together and communicating face to face we are able to bond and develop relationships. Telephone conversations empower people to communicate instantaneously with numerous people, but the telephone lacks a warm personal touch of putting a voice with a face.

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