1974 Fax machines debut. 1979 Sony Walkman appears. Post-it notes hit stores. Four family members pat themselves down like cops looking for guns, each emerging with a cell phone. I bumped it by mistake.
Interpersonal communication is out of fashion in a world of cell phones.
Today, these school kids might pass notes by e-mail. There are three telephone lines into the home, though nobody in the family seems certain how many telephones those lines are connected to. At least 10, maybe a dozen, not including the six cell phones, which each have separate numbers and separate pager numbers. All without ever having to see each other. Daughter Jessica Cohen phones into the kitchen to see what's for dinner.