PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > 1996: Cordless Phones (based on a non-representative sample of films > using corded films around 1994, but not in 1996 and after. I probably don't > have enough real evidence to give different dates for the routine use of > cell phones and cordless phones).
This feels wrong. I remember quite a lot of cordless (landline, not cellular) phones from TV and movies from the mid-to-late 1980s. I know the technology had spread to my decidedly middle-class neighborhood by the mid-'80s. Indeed, I found a 1986 article that says the "fad" of cordless phones was "on the ropes". http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=z1spAAAAIBAJ&sjid=k6UEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6723%2C2642658 This is far from exhaustive, but there are mentions of "cordless phones" in reviews for 1986's 'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' ("...at home among hot tubs, cordless phones and animal psychologists."), 1991's 'Julia Has Two Lovers' ('Not even the mobility provided by cordless phones can prevent tedium from setting in."), 1992's 'Patriot Games' ("...a smashing kitchen and squadrons of cordless phones and computer terminals."), and 1993's 'The Beverly Hillbillies' ("Erika Eleniak is fun as Elly May, especially when she tries to acclimate herself to Beverly Hills High, where all the girls pack cordless phones.") I did find a few fun related articles: San Jose Mercury News (CA) - March 12, 1986 - 1A Front PHANTOM CALLS HAUNT POLICE PHONES DIAL 911 ON THEIR OWN Something is making cordless telephones dial 911, the nationwide emergency number -- and it's not human fingers. Whatever it is, it's driving police and emergency personnel crazy here and across the country. A study done in Santa Clara County suggests that when their batteries get low, cordless phones pick up frequencies given off by household appliances such as microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners, blenders and refrigerators... The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) - September 27, 1996 IN PRAISE OF CORDED PHONES Perhaps I belong to the last generation that will be able to remember a time when telephones were strictly stationary objects. Now that mobile and cordless phones are commonplace, children of today will grow up in a world where telephones can routinely be found in gardens or cars, in patios or garages, on porch swings or the side of a tub. They will need to be reminded that it was not always so... -- Ed Dravecky III http://www.fencon.org/ -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
