I spend a lot of time pondering.
Not about important things, but about little things.
Like, what if there were no cell phones. It would be like 1978 all over again. When we need to reach out and touch someone we head home to our Princess phone and “dial” that person. Or visit a public pay phone and drop a dime to connect. There would be no need to put “cell phone etiquette appreciated” on the bottom of restaurant menus. The lack of cell phones would certainly restore manners on people who talk via the “ear appendage” as they walk through the grocery store, wait in line at the bank, or sit next to you on the plane during a tarmac delay.
I like to ponder what life would be like without touch tones. It would eliminate the need to press 1 for Spanish, press 2 for English. Would put people back to work as businesses would once again find the need for someone to actually answer a phone and greet you with a friendly “hello” instead of a recording.
The existence of voice mail is something I ponder a lot. I hate it. Think back to the invention of the “Code A Phone” in the 80’s where cassette tape answering machines took messages for you at your home. Now there’s voice mail on your home phone, cell phone, office phone, Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, and God only knows what else. I don’t leave messages on voice mail, because nobody returns them anyway. It’s definitely something we can live without.
Email. Where would we be without email. We actually may become productive again. Now we can work without distractions, go through the day without getting chain emails full of cute puppy photos, and end the day without someone selling you Viagra at 98% off.
Email wouldn’t exist without the Internet, and just try to ponder life without the net. Yeah, go on. Try it. How would we shop? Would we actually have to drive to a store? UPS and FedEx wouldn’t be as busy as they are. Without the Internet we would have to actually buy a newspaper, pay for porn and use a lawyer for legal advice instead of relying on the 12 year old kid dispensing law on some website. Without the Internet I’d be poor, destitute and probably living in a cardboard box down by the river. Lets stop pondering this one right now.
Pondering can be fun. I use it as a way to wipe the stress of a bad day away. Often times pondering the simple things in life can be fun and insightful. Look around you and imagine what life would be like without some of the things we take for granted every day and ponder them for a minute or too.
Like the toilet.
Imagine life without the commode.
Without it, the chamber pot business would be flourishing.