The History of Texting!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post meaning I have been compensated for this post, although all opinions and experiences are my own. 

The History of Texting

 Do you know how messages were sent before cell phones? I'll touch base on various ways of communication from centuries ago til today with text messaging. 

Smoke Signals 

 Smoke signals are a form of visual communication which can travel over long distances and are one of the oldest forms of long distance communication. They were used to warn others of enemy attacks in Ancient China because they were able to be seen from tower to tower along the Great Wall. Native Americans also used this form of communication and each tribe had their own system. Typically the placement of the signal on a hill would indicate different meanings. Smoke signals are still used today in Rome, they signify when a new Pope has been selected. 

Message in a Bottle
Message in a Bottle has to be one of my favorite forms of communication! I especially have loved hearing about all of the Messages in Bottles that have been turning up within the past couple of years, from years ago. It's so neat to see photos of them.  Back in the 16th century it was a common practice in the military to send information by dropping bottles into the sea. For example, the English Navy used bottle messages to send ashore information about enemy positions. Some even say that Queen Elizabeth I even created an official position of "Uncorker of Ocean Bottles" meaning if anyone else were to stumble upon a bottle and open it without permission, they would have to face the death penalty. 

Telegrams
Telegrams have always interested me as well. It's amazing to me how they were able to communicate in such a way. Now a days, teaching people how to read and write is enough of a challenge, how in the world did they teach each other, let alone invent this form of communication?  Way back when, in 1837, two sets of inventors simultaneously developed an electrical telegraph. Wheatstone and Cooke in England and Samuel Morse in the United States. With the help of an assistant, Morse developed a new signalling alphabet using dots and dashes that became the standard for telegram communication. By 1861, this Morse telegraph system connected the West Coast to the East and put the Pony Express out of business. Of course as technology improved, the telegraph became an audio transponder, where messages were translated based on the interval between two clicks instead of the previously used register and tape.

Pagers

I remember when I was younger and the pager or "beeper" was first big or popular. Beepers are electronic devices that signal a person with beeps or vibrations when contacted. They tend to be triggered by a phone call and are most often worn on the hip. The beeper has a small screen for the important message, which is usually in numeric code. Did you know that the beeper or pager was created in 1949?? I personally did not know they were created about 66 years ago. However, their first practical uses didn't come until a paging service was launched for physicians in New York the following year. Physicians paid $12 per month for the service and carried a 6oz pager which would receive phone messages withing 25 miles of a single transmitter tower.

 

Cell Phones

 Cell Phones are another one that I hadn't realized were created so long ago. Motorola produced the first cellphone in 1973. It weighed 4.4 pounds! Today, we've come a long way from those clunky, over sized devices and people are able to communicate with phones that weigh less than 4 ounces and easily fit in our pockets.

Photo credit: Google Images

  Here is a wonderful photo of  Motorola's Martin “Marty” Cooper who made the first call from the 1973 handheld mobile phone (shown on right). I love this photo as it shows him holding the first cell phone (which is different from a car phone) and a cell phone from today. 

Be sure to check out SimpleTexting for see the other forms of communication predating text messaging. 

What is your favorite form of communication?

Curling Dads and Helicopter Moms: When Kids Need Their Freedom and Why

Curling Dads and Helicopter Moms: When Kids Need Their Freedom and Why

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post which was written by another author. I have not written this post nor am I the original author. 

There’s a temptation when parenting to constantly stick to your children like a barnacle to the bottom of a boat. After all, they’re your children. It’s natural that you want to make sure they’re safe and growing up properly. However, kids are also people, and like all people they like their space. It’s not that they don’t like their parents, it’s just that too much of anything can be bad for you. Including a parent’s love and care.

In this discussion of children’s freedom, we’re not going to get into high-minded discussions of liberty, human rights, or the argument between ordered authority and individual freedom. We’re simply going to be talking about the effects that incessant parental interference can have on children and their overall well-being.

Helicopter Parents

A helicopter parent is a somewhat disparaging term used towards moms and dads who are constantly “hovering” around their kids. You probably know the type. They’re the moms who are constantly texting “r u ok?” to their children every five or ten minutes when they’re out with friends, or the fathers who loom menacingly over their daughter’s shoulder when they meet with potential boyfriends. They’re also parents who constantly get involved in their children’s affairs, often to the latter’s embarrassment.

Now by all means, a parent should be involved in a child’s life. You should be concerned about their safety, you should be concerned about what they’re doing with themselves. Such a presence can actually be a major comfort to kids as they’re growing up. However, there is a limit.

The problem with helicopter parenting, primarily, is that it robs a child of one of their most important rights – the rights to privacy. To give you an example, try to think back to when you were a child. How did you feel when your parents snooped through your things or questioned you incessantly about what you were doing while out, or if your parent ever insisted on trying to be involved in things you were doing with friends? Now imagine how your child must feel when you start doing the same thing.

Let it never be said that history doesn’t have a way of repeating itself.

The Importance of Your Children’s Independence

One of the major problems with constantly involving yourself with your child’s affairs is that it robs them of their independence, their ability to act as their own individual agents. This is actually very damaging to them, especially later on, as it means they become increasingly incapable of living their own lives and making their own decisions. Imagine Seymour Skinner from The Simpsons and you have a very good idea of what we’re talking about. As your child becomes less capable of forming their own actions, they become less capable of growing into fully functioning adults.

Such activity can also inhibit your child’s abilities to form meaningful relationships with their friends and peers, particularly if you insist on getting involved in or disrupting their social life. This damages their ability to communicate with other people, to form connections and networks, and thus their ability to get ahead in life as adults. This loss of independence can also formulate another major problem in your child’s independence. It fosters a great deal of resentment from the child towards the parent. After all, nobody appreciates having their freedoms restricted or intruded upon by outside parties, including their parents. The more you insist on hovering behind your children like an omnipresent helicopter, the more constrained they’ll feel. This can result in a complete collapse of their relationship with you, and may even encourage them to cut off all ties completely the first chance they get, which is probably every parent’s nightmare.

How to Prevent Helicopter Parenting

The most important way to prevent intruding too much on your child’s privacy is learning how to keep a respectable distance from them. This does not mean completely ignoring them or their safety, but simply recognising that invisible line between “mothering” and “smothering”. Striking a balance is actually fairly easy to do, if somewhat difficult to keep to at times.

When you take your children out to play, learn to sit off to the side and let them do their own thing. Keep far enough away that they’re free to enjoy themselves uninhibited, yet close enough that you’re visible in case of emergency where you need to take trip to an urgent care, like Night-Lite Paediatrics. Don’t insist on playing with them all the time. Indeed, after a certain age you should not really invite yourself into their activities at all. Instead, wait to be invited. Respect your children’s privacy, respect their space.

Likewise, whenever your children go out with friends, discuss safety issues with them beforehand and establish clear rules, such as what time they’re expected to be home, the amount of cash they’re allowed with them, and what times you’ll call or text them to check up on them. When calling or texting your children when they’re out, make sure you choose a reasonable time. For example, if your children leave to go somewhere at six and are expected to be back by eight, a call around seven or seven thirty is not unreasonable. Only call them at the agreed upon time, never before, except in emergencies.

The key is mastering parenting in such a way that you’re present without being too close. Your child should always have some sort of connection to you should they need it, whether it’s simply finding you sitting across the other side of the room or through a quick phone call. However, at the same time, they should only be aware of your presence when they need to be aware of it. They need to be able to have moments where they can feel “alone”, whether it’s alone with themselves or alone with their friends. Doing so will not only allow them to develop their own sense of independence and individual responsibility, but can also help them to appreciate you more as a parent as you become less an obstruction to their own freedom, but rather a guarantee of it.

Article Author: Christian Mills is a freelance writer and father who is always looking for ways to bring up his kids in a healthy and safe environment. If you would like to learn more about Christian, you can check out his Google+ profile. 

Top 10 Anti Drunk Driving Ads (Sponsored Post)

Disclosure: I have been compensated for this post. All opinions and experiences are my own and may differ from those of your own. 

Top 10 Anti Drunk Driving Ads

The New York DUI Experts have compiled a top 10 list of anti drinking and driving ads from around the world. 

The #1 ad is a very chilling video from a young man who drove while drunk and killed another man. It is his confession and he did the right thing, he confessed and took responsibility for his actions. His actions which could have been prevented had he been responsible and not have gotten in his vehicle and attempted to drive home. 

I have a friend who was hit and killed by a drunk driver. It was Thanksgiving night and he was just about to turn off the street he lived on to take his best friend home. Their pick up truck was slammed into by a drunk driver who was doing over 80 MPH (the speed limit was only 35 MPH) and burst into flames (several explosions occurred). My friend's family members had to watch as their son/brother was burned alive. He wasn't no more then maybe 15 feet from his drive way when struck by the speeding drunk driver. Him and his best friend did many things together, but at just 22 years old and 20 years old they should not have died together that night. Their lives could have been spared and so many of us who loved them and called them our friend, brother and son wouldn't have to suffer and feel the pain in our hearts that we still do, five years later. It still seems so surreal and like it just happened.  

Just 2 months prior to this accident the drunk driver had received his 2nd DUI and he had already had his license revoked due to driving while under the influence. But that wasn't enough for this man to realize what he was doing was wrong and that he needed to stop. I wonder if he thinks about his actions and how they affected so many people. 

Please NEVER think or say anything along the lines of, "Oh, I'm fine to drive. It would never happen to me." Or "Oh, I've done it before and nothing happened." Because you never know when something will happen, you never know the severity of your actions until it's too late! 

As I'm sure you can tell, I am very anti drinking and driving. There are so many ways for you to get home or wherever. What if you were to hit a vehicle with small children in it and you killed those small children? I know from experience, that telling someone who drives while drinking doesn't seem to care much when you say, "What if you hit and kill someone?", but the light shines bright in their heads if you mention a child. You don't know what vehicle has a child in it and it really shouldn't matter if the person(s) you hit are children, teenagers, adults or seniors. It shouldn't happen and YOU can make it NOT happen!

The tenth ad on the top ten list is one that may catch the attention of younger people, around my age. 

"Don't Let Your Ego Drive You." 

The rest of the DUI Ads are also great. Be sure to check them out and watch the first video if you only watch one of them. 

Has your life been effected by a drunk driver? Please share your story below.