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Shall we gather at the river and throw our cell phones away?If you have a cell phone, then you are in the wave of rapid change in communication and the means not just to talk but to distribute narrow-cast information. Phones that were once a "brick" or a "bag" are now a credit card-sized clamshell. This personal communication device is making a home phone obsolete. They also may be the next generation of information capture, retrieval and transfer depending on what tricks you learn to do with this willing, though painfully frustrating, technology. Ah, to go back to Ma Bell and the indestructible black phones that occupied a place of prominence in our rural households. I remember party lines and the ability to pick up the phone and hear other people talking. That was not allowed by my mother as she enforced one of the Rural Commandments: "Thou shalt not eavesdrop on thy neighbor's phone calls." In the 1960s, we began to get service upgrades and I can clearly remember the first time we dialed directly to my sister's home in California. We heard the clicks and tones, then "hello" from a recognizable voice. We thought it was as good as it could get. We would still use the operator for "person to person" calls when I was in college, sometimes as a way to let Mom know I'd made it back to school. She didn't have a rule against calling and asking for yourself at the expense of the phone company. The 1980s brought extension phones and cordless phones, but they were still tied to a single line within the household. When that line was cut by cellular communications, the world changed. Hesitantly at first, due to cost, the cell phone caught on. It replaced two-way radios in a very short time and, as service became available and service plans included a free phone, the rural populace was as eager as teenagers to get them. The cell phone is now an extension of the person. If you are intent on business, you can carry on transactions wherever you go. If you are a socialite, you have the opportunity to network from your vehicle or any location that gets a signal. The major downside of cellular communications is quality of audio and dropping of calls but we seem to be tolerant of its shortcomings. Rural America has the worst cell service of any area in the country but it is the best we've ever had. Cell towers make more money in areas of population density, so cities and interstate highways are covered first with rural areas left till last. New bands and coverage methods are on the horizon but they cost money and may require a different device. What you can do with a cell phone, beyond phone calls, is becoming much more of the allure of the device. It has a camera that allows you to capture an image and save or transmit it to others. I have seen a person in a hardware store take a picture of a part with their phone and then send it to their boss or technician to see if it's the right one. There is no longer any tractor wreck that isn't photographed and distributed on the Internet. Speaking of the Internet, that is an emerging use of the device as a slow, but workable, way to access the same information you could on your home computer. The cell phone also is a music player and you can use it to text. Texting, a new use of an old technology, seems to be a retro move since it is only letters on a screen and usually quite cryptic. Yet, it is so "in" for those who venture into this means of modern telegraphy. Why make a phone call when two words will do? Take a second to read, rather than break concentration on the task at hand. The challenge is to learn to send by hitting some keys up to five times to get the right letter or number to appear and to identify, with old eyes, the tiny number where you wish the text to go. "OK 4 U?" The advantage of narrow-cast text for farmers is becoming obvious. Grain or livestock merchants can alert you to their needs and the base price they are willing to pay. The board of trade futures numbers can come to you at intervals through the day. News advisories can be sent to your phone. You can be anywhere that has cell service and stay informed of the world around you. What is next is anyone's guess. But here's my biggest reach: The hymnals in church will become little computers. The prototype is already out and called "Kindle" (www.amazon.com). The device is really an electronic book but it contains a cell phone that will download text for a fee. You can then read books, newspapers or magazines at your leisure by punching a button that simulates turning a page. Imagine going to church and holding a device that always is on the right page and even highlights where the song leader is in the verses. Almost everyone reaches a point in life where they stop adopting new technology. If you are there, you should be able to survive with your home phone and newspaper for the rest of your days. If you want to be there now, then throw your cell phone into a river and walk away. But if you find the more connected you become the more likely you are to be competitive, if not happy, then keep paying the bill and looking for new uses for this device to be debuted daily. "C U" Editor's Note: This is Ken Root's 34th year as an agricultural reporter. He grew up on a small farm in central Oklahoma and started his career as a vocational agriculture teacher. He worked in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri as a broadcaster and was the original host of AgriTalk. He has also been the executive director of the National AgriChemical Retailers Association in Washington, D.C. and the National Association of Farm Broadcasters in Kansas City. Ken is now the lead farm broadcaster at WHO and WMT Radio based in Des Moines, Iowa. He has been a columnist for HPJ and Midwest Ag Journal for seven years. 10/27/08 Date: 10/23/08 Advertisement
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