Guest Column: A letter to Alexander Graham Bell

Dear Alex,

Remember me? I have written to you before … it turns out now I need “phone lessons!”

After all those years! It’s embarrassing to admit, but here’s the story:

My children recently insisted I update and get an iPhone, since they all have iPhones and they wanted me to be able to “text” and join in their group calls. They said I could even “facetime.”

It sounded like an adventure, so I decided you would want to know, since you invented phones so many years ago.

There have been many changes to phones in my lifetime. I remember the first telephone our family had and we called the neighbors over to see it. It must have been sometime in the 1940′s.

Later, when my children were small, I had a phone on the wall in my kitchen, with a long cord so I could move around and watch my children playing outside. And many people had more than one phone –perhaps extensions in the bedrooms or the basement.

You wouldn’t believe how important the PHONE is today – everyone has one of their own – and we carry them with us almost all the time. Many children have their own phones too. They take them to school and all across America school districts are talking about their “phone policies.” Some schools allow students to keep their phones in their desks, but others want them in a designated place, such as their lockers.

Some parents want their children to have access to their phones at all times. Those parents might be interested to know that you, Alexander, did not want a telephone placed in your study because you thought it would distract you from your scientific work. (I learned this on the “Internet” – something I might tell you about in the future.

Phones are used for many purposes today. You can get the latest news, the weather forecast, contact” friends or family, play games, and gain information by asking “Google” or contacting “Siri.” You don’t need to go to the library to see an encyclopedia – you can simple look it up “online!”

Many of us “older folk” feel “left out” if we can’t keep up and we have to keep learning all the time.

My son, Tim, took to me to T Mobile to buy a new phone and get “phone lessons.” The employee there was very helpful and she transferred all of my information from the Android to the new cell phone. We spent a couple hours there. Then we went back to my apartment to continue my instruction.

I am amazed at all I can do with my phone! I can even “face time!” now. We have family calls on Sunday afternoons.

My telephone is now like a small computer!

I wonder what you would think, Alex, if you knew all that is being done with the telephone you invented so long ago.

That is why I am writing to you again.

Respectfully,

Carole

P.S. Please greet Watson for me!

Carole Ledbetter is a former, long-time Write Team member who resides in Ottawa.