It seems like such a simple thing. I have been using it since
childhood. I never thought it was at all complicated but it would seem
that I am wrong. I am talking about the phone book. That heavy
yellow and white paged book I used to sit on as a child at the dinner table.
(Before booster seats) We always seem to have several, whether they are
for different areas or different years. I have looked up everything from
Appliance Repair to Zoo Hours. It has just been brought to my attention,
however, that my tech-savvy children topping out at 22 years old do not know how
to use this simple information source. I have shown each child how to use
them on several occasions and like a foolish parent I believed they had learned
the simple principles of alphabetical order and category look up. So it
was a sad shock when I asked my son to look something up in the phone book and
he just stared at it like it came out of a tomb in Egypt. He didn’t even
touch the book. He just looked at it and said, “I’m getting no reception
here on my phone. Can’t I just use your computer to look it up?”
“Just look it up in the book”, I told him. “It’s in the business
pages.” Again he didn’t touch the book. He just looked at it from
the side. “Are those the yellow ones?” he asked. By this point I was
highly bothered and looked it up myself, showing him how as I went. “Dad”,
he told me. “No one uses those things any more. You just look it up
on your phone. It’s way faster.” Though he had a point, I was
frustrated. “Apparently you can’t do that when you have no service”, I
told him. “It is important to at least know how to use a phone
book.” “Maybe for your generation”, he said. “People my age don’t
have time for that.” I found what I was looking for in less than a
minute. How does someone not have time for that? Am I becoming
an albatross in a society of eagles? I cannot be the only one to still use
the book. In past blogs I have mentioned how lost I would be without my
cell phone. If my children are any indication, though, this generation
would be totally incapacitated without them. Technology is great; but even
eagles have to come down to earth at some point.
childhood. I never thought it was at all complicated but it would seem
that I am wrong. I am talking about the phone book. That heavy
yellow and white paged book I used to sit on as a child at the dinner table.
(Before booster seats) We always seem to have several, whether they are
for different areas or different years. I have looked up everything from
Appliance Repair to Zoo Hours. It has just been brought to my attention,
however, that my tech-savvy children topping out at 22 years old do not know how
to use this simple information source. I have shown each child how to use
them on several occasions and like a foolish parent I believed they had learned
the simple principles of alphabetical order and category look up. So it
was a sad shock when I asked my son to look something up in the phone book and
he just stared at it like it came out of a tomb in Egypt. He didn’t even
touch the book. He just looked at it and said, “I’m getting no reception
here on my phone. Can’t I just use your computer to look it up?”
“Just look it up in the book”, I told him. “It’s in the business
pages.” Again he didn’t touch the book. He just looked at it from
the side. “Are those the yellow ones?” he asked. By this point I was
highly bothered and looked it up myself, showing him how as I went. “Dad”,
he told me. “No one uses those things any more. You just look it up
on your phone. It’s way faster.” Though he had a point, I was
frustrated. “Apparently you can’t do that when you have no service”, I
told him. “It is important to at least know how to use a phone
book.” “Maybe for your generation”, he said. “People my age don’t
have time for that.” I found what I was looking for in less than a
minute. How does someone not have time for that? Am I becoming
an albatross in a society of eagles? I cannot be the only one to still use
the book. In past blogs I have mentioned how lost I would be without my
cell phone. If my children are any indication, though, this generation
would be totally incapacitated without them. Technology is great; but even
eagles have to come down to earth at some point.
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