What We'll Miss

Answering Machines
I got my own phone line, princess phone, and answering machine when I was 12. It was a big deal. Today my voice mailbox needs to be full before I'll retrieve my messages, but back then there was such excitement in coming home and seeing the little red light blinking the number of calls I had. In earlier times, if you were out when you got a call, you may never have known that someone had tried to reach you. Can you imagine?

When answering machine usage became widespread in the eighties, phone usage surged across the country: people quickly caught onto the fact that you could make the requisite calls to exes and in-laws and creditors at odd hours without actually having to speak to anyone. By 1988, more than a quarter of all US households had one.

My favorite part of answering machine ownership was the outgoing greeting. I'd spend hours coming up with the perfect clip of music to play. Once, I even wrote a rap song:

Hey guys and gals let me make it plain:
You've just reached Anna Jane.
I happened to go out for a while
So I'm not here to catch your dial.
Leave a message, at the tone
And I'll call you right back when I get home.

Needless to say, I wasn't very cool. [Price Is Right screengrab from The Bleat]