The Last Extension

The telephone operator was very friendly, as she set up my new phone line. I was in Jay’s apartment, calling from his landline. The conversation wasn’t unfamiliar. This was my third apartment in New York City.

"Do you want me to give you whatever comes up?"

"Yes, please, " I said, not wanting to pay for anything that spelled out anything like 870-TOOL.

A brief moment passed and she said, "Wow, you’ve got the last one."

"The last number," I laughed.

"You’ve got the last Murray Hill Exchange."

I didn’t think much of it at the time or for that matter during my time in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan (spoiler alert: it’s not much of a hill). I wrote the number down and memorized it. The fact that it was an exchange number made it easier to remember. The first 3 digits were your neighborhood. MU9 was Murray Hill.

Back in the land and time before the smartphone, we memorized and remembered more because we had to I guess.

Anyway, when I was given the last Murray Hill Extension for a phone number, it was, as it turns out, a precursor to change. New York City was doling out more cell phone numbers than ever. Everybody was carrying a flip phone, a little Nokia thing, or whatever that personal planner phone with the tiny buttons was called.

At the time, it never occurred to me that we might actually cut the Ma Bell cord and go cellphone solo or as I did it when I first moved to SF… smartphone only. I was sharing an apartment at the time. It worked.

Today the smartphone is an extension of one’s arm. The world has changed and when you were raised in the pre-tech existence then you really take notice of the differences you see. You know, the car accidents caused by texting or the folks walking down the street and looking straight down into their personal black mirror. My fave is when folks go out to socialize and spend half the time checking their screen. They can’t all be doctors on call.

The above is not a rant or even a complaint. It’s an observation from someone who has watched the change go down over time. I have a smartphone and I use it. I also make a point of putting it away, when I’m doing something. I don’t bring it to the dinner table. Heck, I make sure it’s not even visible when I’m talking to someone.

Why bother? That young man moving into that apartment had the right social habits down before the tech stuff, there was no reason to change anything. If Batman leaves his utility belt at home, he doesn’t need to drive all the way back to the batcave, he still is quite capable.