this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
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On March 5, 1919, cartoonist W.K. Haselden published a comic in the British newspaper The Mirror, illustrating what the world would be like if telephones were portable.

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[–] givesomefucks 142 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Jokes on them, no one uses cell phones for calling people anymore.

[–] BecomingTheFalcon 46 points 1 year ago

“Haha, so true”, I think to myself, as I sit and stare at my phone

[–] AppaYipYip 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yea I never answer my phone because its always spam. Family will text first.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I don't remember ever getting a spam call. When people call, it's usually important.

Maybe get a new number and don't give your number out to everyone

[–] Screwthehole -1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This is alright to a point but it's not always spam.

Like when you've applied for a rental property, or a job, or whatever. At that point the phone calls need to be answered.

Because it isn't always spam. I get calls about work regularly and my phone # is posted online and I get maybe 1 spam call a week. The rest are legit. In my business, we only call people when it's time sensitive, so if the phone rings it needs an answer.

It's just childish to ignore all phone calls. Especially from those in your contact list

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I get at least two spam calls a day so, outside of calls from my contact list, I ignore everything. If it's an important and time sensitive thing, they need to leave me a message because cold calls from random strings of numbers don't get returned.

[–] Anaphylactic_Gock 2 points 1 year ago

Buckaroo, we all lead different lives.

I have to look out for calls from my doctor, and shit like that. But I probably didn't answer a phone call between the ages of 22 and 25.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

No one owes anyone else to answer their personal phone.

Got a work phone? Ha, that sucks. Go ahead. Answer every ring.

[–] Tandybaum 73 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I genuinely can’t remember what my ringtone is. Haven’t had it on in years.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Must be the same as mine - bzzz bzzz bzzz

[–] Tandybaum 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel like with the 90s style having their comeback right now the kids are missing this angle.

[–] FlyingSquid 2 points 1 year ago

Surely with the 90s coming back, everyone's phone has to play the doodooloo doodooloo doodooloo tune.

[–] sputtersalt 9 points 1 year ago

I have mine silenced but turned emergency bypass on for my parents/brother

On iOS it's contact card > edit > ringtone > emergency bypass

[–] Ktheone 5 points 1 year ago

I have genuine PTSD whenever I hear my ringtone. So I just put my phone on vibrate mode lmao

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mines the song "war of borders" from wastleand 2, which is probably the single most agressive ringtone one can have.

[–] Tandybaum 2 points 1 year ago

I like this one for an alarm.

[–] Saneless 2 points 1 year ago

I haven't set one since before the pixel 1. I'm on pixel 7 now

[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Interesting that he could imagine pocket telephones, but not a way of silencing them

[–] candyman337 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, a physical bell made them ring, it's not like the phones of the time had the ability to silence them. One novel concept at a time lmao

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would think you could disconnect the ringing solenoid with a switch. But maybe the comic is taking about forgetting to turn them off?

[–] FlyingSquid 5 points 1 year ago

I don't remember an obvious way to turn off a phone's ring back in the days when everyone had a land line. The best you could do is have your answering machine pick up after one ring if it had that option and maybe it would be fast enough to do it in less than one ring.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago

I got to wondering what sort of social proliferation the telephone managed to achieve in England by 1919. Nothing exhaustive, but this is what I've found:

By the 1930s, it was common for affluent homes in the UK to have their own telephones, with networks spreading far enough for calls to be made across several cities. The majority of callers continued to use local phone boxes or pay phones until the 1950s and 60s, when improvements in home phone technology made systems cheaper and more easily available.

Ref: https://www.italktelecom.co.uk/blog/a-brief-history-of-the-home-telephone

1918

Leeds automatic telephone exchange was opened on 18 May in Basinghall Street - a Strowger-type manufactured and installed by the Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company. It was the largest of its kind in Europe, equipped for 6,800 lines with an ultimate capacity of 15,000, and the first exchange in this country capable of being extended to give service to 100,000 subscribers. It was also the first in which the caller was required to dial five figures for every local call.

Ref: https://www.britishtelephones.com/histuk.htm

So for a cartoonist to be able to imagine having a personal phone at all in 1919, let alone a portable one, is pretty interesting. Maybe missed their calling as a sci-fi writer/illustrator :)

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Hitler do be gettin into shenanigans with his mobile telephone.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hitler is the reason that style is no longer worn. Some say it is his second greatest achievement, only being overshadowed by his greatest achievement killing Hitler.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, but he also killed the guy that killed Hitler.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think they were going for a Charlie Chaplin style.

[–] samus12345 4 points 1 year ago

Damn, I looked it up and never realized that Charlie Chaplin and Hitler were born just 4 days apart. Chaplin lived a lot longer, though!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I miss the comics from a hundred years ago that were always posted on /r/comicstriphistory

[–] wanderingmagus 4 points 1 year ago

No time like the present to make the community!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago
[–] orl0pl 9 points 1 year ago

TING, TING, TING!

[–] samus12345 7 points 1 year ago

Vintage c/phonesarebad.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ok, but why so much compression artifacts?

[–] RGB3x3 21 points 1 year ago

It was first published to Facebook in 1919, you don't expect it to hold up all this time do you?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

This is the actual prediction.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

What is up with that baby?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Severe case of longcatitis

[–] Methylman 4 points 1 year ago

It's common for mites

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Who would not cry if your dad is Hitler.

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 1 year ago

Jealous of the dad's new phone. It's a flip fold.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I just sent this to my buddy on his mobile. Then i realized that his phone went ting. Ironic.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

mf really said your doohickey is frightening this here mite