William Flew on Cell Phones

On this day in 1973 -- on April 3 of that year -- a man did something no one had ever done before.
You may bless him for it or curse him for it. At this juncture, it hardly matters. The impact of what he did is so enormous that judging it now is almost beside the point.
The man's name was Martin Cooper. He was 44 at the time.
He made a cell phone call.
The world's first. At least the first public one; the cell phone had been tested in the lab, but never tried in the real world.
"As I walked down the street while talking on the phone," Cooper once told an interviewer, "sophisticated New Yorkers gaped at the sight of someone actually moving around while making a phone call."


The world, literally, could not live without cell phones now. If they were suddenly to be outlawed, or to magically disappear overnight, the planet would have a nervous breakdown. Cell phone service has become like the air itself: taken for granted, not given much thought until it's unavailable. When people lose or misplace their cell phones, they often report feeling a sense of emptiness, of panic, almost of grieving.

"hi, what are you doing."

"nothin, what are you doing?"

"I'm on a bus"

"cool. Where you going?"

"home. Where are you?"

"On a bus going home as well"

"Wait. Are you sitting next to me?"

"Yeah."

Peter: All right everybody off we go we're gonna have such a great time- (Peter's cell phone rings) Hello.

Quagmire:(on the phone) Hey Peter what's up

Peter: Oh, hey Quagmire just taking the family on vacation

Quagmire: Oh that's good, hang on a second I'm stuck behind some fat ass driving too slow.(shouts) C'MON STUPID MOVE IT!! (honks his horn)

Peter: Oh hang on Quagmire some jerk behind me is honking his horn.

Quagmire: Oh you should totally flip him off. (Peter flips him off) Oh hang on a sec some fat ass just flipped me off. HEY UP YOURS YOU JERK (honks his horn again)

Peter: Hang on Quagmire I gotta kick this guy's ass

Quagmire: Yeah, I gotta kick this guy's ass

Peter: I'll call you back after the fight

Quagmire: Yeah, me too

Peter: Good luck in yours

Quagmire: Good luck in yours

I didn't realize so many old people were on Fark. you all seem capable enough to use a computer and post on Fark, and probably able to deal with the typical computer things which happen on a PC. So how much more advanced/troublesome is a cell phone?

For me, I don't want to be left behind and I like the advance of tech. Why can't you just get a prepaid cellphone for emergencies at least, and shut it off if you don't want to use it?