As technological breakthroughs such as the cell phone and the home computer (not to mention the new fad that is the personal tablet) continue to expand, it seems our collective memories of the days before such marvels were available are fading quietly (and quickly) into obscurity.

My proof? The fact that your typical child – one between the age of six and 16 (or even 18) – no longer recognizes a rotary phone for what it is. Try to explain it to the youth of today and they immediately ask how one could possibly use (suffer with) such a device, considering the necessary cord that connects the handset (which you held to your ear and mouth) and the phone itself.

However, once it was explained that a person was forced to (gasp!) stand still while talking on the telephone way back in ... oh, say ... 1988 or so, the flood of questions really begins.

“What do you mean you had to stand still? You mean you couldn’t walk around while you were talking on the phone? What if you were in the car? How did you call anybody if you were driving to the store ... or dropping me off at school? How did you text with that rotary thing? Did it take a lot longer? It sure seems like it would take a lot longer to call someone, waiting for that rotary thing to spin back and forth.”