Frazz by Jef Mallett for April 27, 2024

Heh, too many phones can be awkward, but so necessary!

You could strap it to your arm – or leave it at home!

I don’t carry my phone while exercising. Too valuable… and uncomfortable. Though I don’t run for exercise… and I can see where it might occasionally be really good to be able to call for assistance.

Wear a pocket t-shirt!

Thomas Banacek’s mobile phone had a base station mounted in his car and needed a mobile operator to connect to landline phones.

I know I am slowly loosing my hubris of invincibility because I won’t go on daily bike rides without my phone (for emergencies) and my helmet. At 75, I don’t bounce back as quickly as I once did.

A friend of ours curated a film series and in 2008, she included the 1980s film Wall Street with Michael Douglas. It had help up really well – until the scene where Douglas’ character holds up a mobile phone that’s the size of a brick. The whole audience laughed.

On some old, long running TV shows you can watch the progress of mobile phone development. NCIS, for instance, you’ll see candy bar phones, followed by flip phones, followed by smartphones.

In my perspective, current models are too heavy and loaded with too many useless, time consuming apps. Their careless use and the distraction they generate has caused more problems than they are worth. [As a case in point, one cell phone battery suddenly has become ‘pregnant’ and looks about ready to commit mayhem. Right now it’s outdoors in a bag on our stone deck table – just in case. It has become a $$ loss in many ways and it was almost useless before that.]

I say this because we use a cell phone about once a month – if that. My sweet blue-eyed girl is mostly house bound and we need it for ‘just in case.’ Otherwise I wouldn’t have one anywhere near me. Thank goodness the older format, app-limited flips are now becoming more available. Looking forward to researching those.

There are mini-backpacks for phones.

My “running” as a youngster and young adult — I’m 72 now and don’t even walk the mall every day — consisted of making it from first to third on a hit to the outfield when I was playing fast-pitch softball. For the life of me, I can’t imagine anyone running distances needing to take a phone along. It’s tough enough to concentrate on golf without someone’s phone buzzing in the cart. Running for a couple of hours with those potential interruptions just seems silly.

Good grief, there are MUCH better ways to carry a phone when running than in your shorts. My favourite is an elasticated belt pouch. No bounce, no worries…..

….. but no joke at the last panel.

Yep, John Ritter has a scene like that in the 1990 Made-for-TV version of “IT.” I have it on DVD, watch it every year around Halloween time, and that boat of a phone cracks me up more every time I see it.

I don’t think of any movie with a mobile phone as “old.”

Maxwell Smart’s phone was in his shoe.