Today's technology is influenced by what we are familiar with. Ask yourself why does a telephone ring? The answer would be to let you know someone is trying to make contact. It is a communication device and the inventors figured if someone was trying to call there would need to be a way for someone on the other end to be notified. So the best answer to that problem was to add a bell or buzzer of some sort, that will get someones attention.
With radio, there is no need for a bell. You speak into the microphone and if someone hears you out there on another radio and they want to talk, they respond with their voice. Simple. Your voice is your announcement or request to communicate.
Cell phones are really radios that act like a phone. But it could be unsettling to keep hearing voices come from your pocket when you are waiting for a call. But we are conditioned to hearing phones ring so that is OK even if the "ringing" is some annoying song that someone else oddly likes.
Today we have so many different methods of communication. Just try to list them...
phone
cell phone
raido
snail mail
email
text chat
SMS text
Instant Message
Skype
forum post
Facebook
Twitter
Snap Chat
And on I could go on. Many of these technologies can be used to allow 2 or more people to easily communicate simultaneously or at their leisure. The thing is today's adult generation is using many of those in work and our personal lives. But our default will probably be the telephone in its many forms. We all have a phone of some sort. But with the availability versatility of cell phones they seem most popular. Keep this in mind the answer to the following question as I go on, "Do you remember when you saw your parent or grandparent or an older person who was used to using the wall phone for most of their life have difficulty accepting the concept of using a cell phone?" I still know some people refusing to accept using new technology of today.
So here is another question. Why does a cell phone ring? Well technically it doesn't ring a bell. It plays a sound file through a speaker that can be changed. For some people it is the sound of a bell like the old timey telephones of yesterday. But for many they change their "ringer" to something different like a clip from a song or some sound byte that will uniquely identify that someone is trying to make contact through their phone.
But this is about the younger generation. Like the 12 year old kid I was playing a game against on my Xbox that did a very good job trash talking me in the game voice chat and making it funny and enjoyable at the same time. I don't know the kids phone number or his real name. I just know his gamer tag. And somehow I am on his friends list. I'm not his friend, just someone that he plays an occasional online game with. And anytime he sees that I am online he can challenge me to a game. And I accept. Other people may join in on the fun if they like. No ringing telephone. Its more like messages that pop up on screen that invites you into a conversation.
So it will be interesting to see how today's youngest kids will be communicating when they become adults because the older generations before them have become accepting to the many changes that have been happening in our technology today.
