No one had a smartphone. That's as culturally impactful as saying "No one had a car"
This blog could easily be entitled, No One Had A Smartphone. Life was certainly different before we were given a vast amount of computing power we could carry around everywhere with us.
I have often written that I am not blogging to point out how much better life was, only that it was starkly different than it is today. No better reference point than the smartphone versus the rotary phone, ordinarily shared by an entire household and owned by the phone company. No extension cords on these models so you usually had to stand or sit close to the phone. In our house, one was mounted on the wall in the kitchen, and the upstairs had one with a few feet of slack which gave the pretense of portability but just barely. No phone jacks in every room or wireless options in this earlier age.
My memories are of a time before answering machines where the phone could ring for five or ten minutes unless someone answered it or the caller grew tired of waiting. This could turn into a test of wills if someone called during a meal where we might be entertaining guests or carving a turkey or roast beef. Or as I learned later in my freshman dorm in college, where eighteen of us shared a single hall phone which had no long distance option, but could receive long distance calls at all hours, after a certain hour the reservoir of good will we may have had for one another could quickly be used up.
The television remote control qualifies as another key differentiator. We had to sit far enough away from the TV so "we wouldn't strain our eyes" but this was too far to make changes to a channel, let along channel surf or switch between different media. Commercials could not be muted, fast-forwarded through or switched away from. We had to endure commercials, especially if they were being widely used in ad campaigns. Just consider how many beer jingles from the era can be recalled if you heard them repeatedly while watching TV or listening to your favorite baseball team on the radio:
"Schaefer is the one beer to have when you're having more than one."
People may have watched TV and talked on the phone but they were also compelled to speak to each other for our society to function. There weren't as many ways to hide behind automated technology as we have today. This loss of familiarity I can site as a loss to our society. People could have been shy or at a loss for words but they knew it was still in their hands to make the effort to communicate in a civil manner. We aren't as hard pressed to do this today and the result can be seen in our lack of penmenship (remember learning to write in cursive), our ability to make small talk with strangers we pass on the street, and in our ability to empathize when we encounter someone having a bad day or feeling low in spirits. These are all gestures which need to be practiced or else we forget how to do them well. The smartphone is a rough substitute and rarely conveys our intended feelings.
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