Cell Phones Turn 25

It's hard to believe that cellular phones have been around for 25 years already. In the beginning, when I saw images of drivers in Los Angeles holding phones to their ears, I was amazed. They were so expensive that car phones, let alone cell phones, seemed like a luxury only highly paid executives and trust-fund socialites would ever enjoy. What a failure of my imagination!

My husband, a property manager at the time, was an early adopter. He had to get physical therapy because his neck froze up from holding "the brick" with his shoulder while driving and writing. When they became affordable for personal use, I got a tiny Motorola and gradually became dependent on it. After my 19-year-old assistant showed me how to schedule reminders on my cell phone calendar, I officially couldn't live without it any more.

I always liked watching Star Trek. To me, the "communicators" that allowed the crew to talk to each other from anywhere no matter how far apart they were, were just as futuristic as space travel in warp speed and the ability to beam up. Our cell phones aren't as powerful and convenient as the voice-activated combadge transponders they wore on their uniforms, but we're getting there. And when those come out, I want one!