Friday, February 22, 2013

did you page me?



I had a conversation with Deion yesterday. He's 13 and very wise beyond his age. But there are times that I forget about the world that he lives in.

"Dad, if I get all A's can I get an iPhone?"

"Yeah, but you've gotta get all A's."

"What if I get 1 B?"

"I'll get you a pager."

"Huh? What's a pager?"

It dawned on me that this kid had NO idea what a pager was. So I had to break down to him what a pager was. I explained to him how his dad rode around Atlanta with $10 in quarters in my car in the event that somebody paged me. I think I may have been the last guy in the world to get a cellphone. Deion was born in 1999. I don't think I got my first cellphone until 2000.

As I was explaining to him the process of getting a "beep" and then using a payphone to call someone back, I realized how far we have come in technology. Pagers were every thing back in the day. A pager on your hip was a fashion statement that people wore like an accessory. You had to make sure that you had some fresh batteries (i always used Duracell) because you didn't want to miss a page. Unlike cellphones, you couldn't charge a pager.

After my brief lesson in technology, I realized that he was more focused on getting an iPhone than getting a pager. I didn't tell him that pagers are pretty much extinct now. So in his mind...it's all A's or nothing. And that's the way that it should be.

3 comments:

  1. Lmbo!

    Never got into the pager... thankfully. I was one of those, I'll see you when I see you or I'll get the message off my answering message.

    I concur, All As or nothing.

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  2. That was funny. And imagine Deion going to school and discussing the pagers with his buddies.

    I had a pager. It was cool to have one.

    And I remember when the cost of using a payphone was a dime. Sigh.

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  3. Hahaha!I remember my first pager I knew I was the sh*t once I had that. My pager, my gold tooth, three finger rings and Jordan's! You couldn't tell me nothing

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