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I think it is debatable. They have been in existence since probably the early '80s, but when do you believe the shift happened when it became commonplace for most people to have one? I personally don't think the shift happened until the mid to late '00s. People in the '80s and '90s had them but they were in the minority. I graduated in the late '90s and nobody had cell phones yet. They started teaching the internet to us in computer class in '95 and didn't add them to the library until 1997. (Some had internet explorer and some had Netscape.)
The 1996 movie "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" is a good example of where we were at during that time period. In the movie, the Romy character thought bringing a flip phone to the reunion would make her seem successful. Lmao. I love when she proudly announces, "If anyone needs to make a call I've got a phone.". .
I remember setting up a home phone service in my own name for the first time in 2004 then being annoyed three years later when I tried to drop it for a cell phone but couldn't because I bundled cable, internet, and home phone and it would have only been a $5.00 difference if I had dropped the phone, thus making me unable to afford a cell. Totally annoying. Didn't get my first one until 2010 when I finally moved cross country and dropped that cable package..and it wasn't a smartphone. Just got my first smartphone a month ago. I know I am just naturally a little behind on technology and that a lot of people probably would have went for the cell phone in 2004 but generally.... I didn't observe them really " taking over" until the mid '00s. Even in 2000 I remember having my favorite payphones around town that I knew I could hit if I needed to make a call away from the house. Then those slowly started to disappear. I realize the transition time probably varied in different areas of the country also. I'm sure more people were walking around L.A. with cellphones in the '90s than in Des Moines during the same time.
It seemed like around the mid 00s it started becoming the social norm to have one. In the late 00s after the debut of the iPhone it seems like touch screen smartphones started becoming a norm.
It seemed like around the mid 00s it started becoming the social norm to have one. In the late 00s after the debut of the iPhone it seems like touch screen smartphones started becoming a norm.
That seems weird to me. I already had a smartphone in 2002.
No, not mainstream at all. The term "smartphone" didn't even exist then. My coworkers thought I was crazy for getting such a big, expensive phone. Now, all those people are probably carrying something even bigger that costs nearly twice as much.
I got my first cell phone in 2004, but most my friends already had one by then. I would say it became normal around 2000-2002. I knew people that had them in the late 90's, but they were either rich kids or business owners.
I don't think there was any point in the past 10-14 years where anyone with a cell phone was looked at strangely for having one. But the reason I think the crossover took place in the mid-to-late '00s was because I began to want one in summer 2007 when I saw my cousin's Blackberry. I am not the kind of person who needs the latest technology. But by 2009 I have to say it was officially too inconvenient not to have one. I remember playing phone tag with someone...I don't even remember why...but I remember sensing the person's slight frustration and puzzlement that I didn't have a cell, I wasn't able to just immediately get back to them within minutes of their call, etc. Not to mention it dawned on me all the payphones in town I used to use were pretty much all gone. It was at that point where I finally realized it is not just something I want, it was getting to be necessary. I felt kind of like the last person listening to cassettes who could longer find them because they weren't being made, yet I didn't have a CD player yet either. Lol.
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