New cell phones are getting bigger. That makes it harder for men to carry them in our pocket or clipped to our belt, so we might have to get one of the special bags they are making to hold phones.
The technology folks are circling back to the old days when it comes to the dimensions of cell phones. The earliest ones were the size of a cinder block.
Those so-called bag phones were hauled around in satchels that had a hand strap like a toiletry bag. They were usually plugged into the car lighter and took up space on the passenger side floor.
My first portable phone in the 1980s fit that description. It had a short antennae that could to be hooked to the top of the car to get decent reception.
I left the phone in the trunk most of the time, because I couldn’t afford to make calls. The per-minute charge for cell phone calls back then was about the price of new tennis shoes.
Phones got smaller over the years, and even those skinny guys with skin tight jeans could get a phone in their pants pocket. The flip phones they came out with later would fit in your shirt pocket.
But cell phones have been growing lately, apparently to hold all that data and gigabytes and the other stuff needed to operate phone calls, photos, videos, apps and all the other things new phones do.
The phones still fit in most ladies’ purses but are too bulky for guys’ pockets. The high tech industry’s solution to the problem, of course, is to create phone carrying cases for men.
Fashion and technology experts say the trendiest new carrying cases for the phones will be on lanyards that men will wear around their necks like Mardi Gras beads.
Some are already on the market. There are some orange nylon bags for $18 each, but designer bags are priced up to $900. I think I’ll just look for some pants with bigger pockets.
The main reason for this crisis about how to haul our cell phones is that we all have too much stuff to keep up with. They are even making tiny carrying bags now for those wireless earpods that folks use to listen to music on their phones.
I used a fanny pack for a while to holds things like phones, keys, sunglasses and other necessities, but Regina determined that it was out of style and got rid of it.
This problem with excessive personal gear and equipment is relatively new, and even kids are having a hard time keeping up with all the things they need to have with them these days.
Our granddaughters are not out of elementary school yet, and they require as much paraphernalia for their softball games as the New York Yankees use.
When I played baseball, I put my glove on the handlebars of my bike and rode to practice. Most bikes in those days had cargo racks on the back, but we never had any cargo to put on them.
Kids now have special backpacks to hold gloves, their own personal bats, helmets, facemasks, shoes with cleats, caps with a team logo, sunglasses, water bottles, batting gloves, shin guards, sun screen and a bunch of other stuff.
Even something like fishing that should be simple has become a major production because of all the gear that’s needed. Boats, motors, GPS systems, rods, reels, huge tackleboxes full of baits, tackle, tools and all that.
When my dad and I went fishing, we had cane poles, a paper bag of hooks, corks and sinkers, a fish stringer and some ice water in an old pickle jar. We got everything from the car to the fishing spot in one easy load.
We didn’t take much gear even on those nighttime frog hunting trips to the mill ponds. Just a couple of headlights, some frog grabs and a burlap tow sack to hold the frogs. My mother sewed a strap to the top of the bags so we could wear them over our shoulder.
Come to think of it, those tow sacks would be perfect to hold the big new phones, reading glasses, wallets, keys, chargers, sunshades, caps, ballpoint pens, note pads, earpods and other things most of us try to keep up with these days.
REPRINTED FROM THE NATCHITOCHES TIMES