[Jarred Santos]

‘Visual image telephone’​

Image Credit: Facebook/Australia Remember When

Have you ever heard of a ‘visual image telephone’? It’s something this broadsheet coined in April of 1963. Chances are, you’re reading this newsletter on it right now! This news feature story chronicled a telecommunications official’s prediction on what we now call smartphones decades before their actual appearance. In your younger days, would you say you’d have found the idea of smartphones preposterous? What are your thoughts on them right now? Tell us below!

If you have other memories you’d like to share with us, post them on our Nostalgia/Yesterday’s Australia forum!

 

[Nichola]

I would have been delighted at the thought of smart phones. And computers. I love technology- it's such a comfort! Ask anyone who has had a car break down nowhere near a phone box. Or had to queue for ages in the bank. Mobile phones, internet banking, emails and texts. I think they're terrific. Used sensibly, and honestly, technology is excellent.

 

[Jarred Santos]

I would have been delighted at the thought of smart phones. And computers. I love technology- it's such a comfort! Ask anyone who has had a car break down nowhere near a phone box. Or had to queue for ages in the bank. Mobile phones, internet banking, emails and texts. I think they're terrific. Used sensibly, and honestly, technology is excellent.

I honestly agree @Nichola! So much of what we take for granted today used to be real tasks in the past. That said, I'm not really a fan of how smartphones take up too much of our time, even when we're together in a single room

 

[Nichola]

I honestly agree @Nichola! So much of what we take for granted today used to be real tasks in the past. That said, I'm not really a fan of how smartphones take up too much of our time, even when we're together in a single room

Exactly. I've noticed how often people in company are taking sneak peeks at text messages while eating dinner. Multi-tasking?