Can you HEAR me now?

I grew up in a house with 3 phones. One in my parents' room, one in my dad's office, and one in the kitchen with a 15+ foot cord. That was the one we were relegated to use. It could stretch around the corner and down the hallway but privacy was at a premium because it couldn't quite reach my bedroom. Some families got a second line for the teenagers. We didn't.

As my first child approached those teenage years I began to ponder the second line concept for our home. But then, in the blink of an eye, telephone technology changed. House phones became cordless and you could walk around the house (and even the yard) with one. My car phone, once hard-wired into our car, became mobile and grew smaller... the prices went way down... and it seemed that every man, woman, teenager, and child on the block had one in their pocket or purse! Family plans, mobile-to-mobile minutes, roaming fees, and text minutes replaced land lines and local and long distance carriers. We could talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime...

Years ago there was a commercial that said "Let your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages!" (Who even uses those big bulky Yellow Page Books anymore? I've been meaning to write them and tell them what a waste of time, money and paper it is to keep leaving them on my doorstep.) Ninety-five percent of the information we need we can literally hold in the palm of our hands... and have it with just a few quick movements of our fingers!

And now we don't even have to use our mouths to communicate to others with these small devices!

In this new world of communicative technology, our fingers (mostly thumbs) have become our mouthpieces!! Texting, tweeting on Twitter, emailing, IMing (instant messaging for those few who don't know), blogging... all great new forms of communicating and connecting with others... and without a sound... okay, maybe a few click, click, clicks... Are we still living out loud (LOL) or as a recent cell phone commercial asks "Can you HEAR me now??"

The other day my 21-year-old son was sitting in the family room having a "conversation" with a friend. He told me he was asking her on a date.

"But, I didn't hear you talking to anyone?" I questioned him.

"I texted her, Mom!" he returned.

"So you didn't even call her on your cell phone?"

"Nobody does that."

Hmmm... I wonder if they will talk out loud on their date??