string can phone

Diana D—, a Friend, writes:

It’s funny, I did a “string can telephone” activity with a class of kindergartners about a year ago—I didn’t realize going into it that these kids have basically no association between land lines and telephonic communication. Most of them probably live in houses where the main phone has been, and may always be, a cell phone.

I love watching movies where people fight over using a land line in any way—waiting for pay phones, arguing about who gets to talk next, race to answer telephones, etc. And of course, message machines. And movies from the 90’s where people have cell phones, but they are really large and unwieldy. In Takashi Miike’s DOA there’s a scene where the guy’s daughter makes fun of him for having an analog cell phone! I really liked that!