Ah yes, I remember it well — life in the 80’s, when the world was wired and documents were filed… on paper…in cabinets.  In the world of communications and information technology, we were at the edge of a wireless world, and the Internet future was a fuzzy blur on the horizon.  As Business Life Magazine celebrates its 25th anniversary, I thought it might be fun to look back at the state of telecommunications technology, as they existed back then.  Now is a good time to think about the past and take a minute to examine the changes and opportunities we have had with respect to communications technology.

Back in the 80’s, telecommunication services were regulated in a very different way than they are today.  Remember Bell Telephone?  Phone service was once regulated as a declared “natural monopoly” by federal and state regulators.  As such there were certain public service obligations - there had to be universal service — basic phone service to all areas at an affordable rate, and those rates were regulated.  Phones were connected to copper wires that came out of the wall.  But in the 80’s there was a big change: “divestiture.”  Our federal policy changed from having telephone monopolies to having regional phone companies, and that gave new companies an opportunity to offer new and different services.  Thus was the beginning of a competitive communications technology world. 

The telephone market became diversified, you didn’t have to get your equipment from Bell, and there were innovations like ‘call waiting’ and answering machines.  New and smaller companies could innovate and get a seat at the telecom table and many began to offer new and different services.  New technologies began to emerge.  Cordless phones were developed, and of course in business, we all had beepers, and a few lucky folks bolted car phones into their dashboards, and picked up a corded handset while they drove.   Eventually, innovations continued and cell phones came on to the market — they were larger than bricks and had big antennas on them that would knock off your cowboy hat if you weren’t careful.  

And some lucky folks were able to access a strange new service called the Internet, ever so slowly.  At home, those lucky few with very large and expensive computers were connected to modems that squealed and screeched and clicked to let you know that they were reaching their baud rate over the telephone line. 

Back in the 80’s, it was a far less streamlined time for telecommunications, with more tangles of cords, very limited connectivity for information exchange, and mobility that was limited and very clunky.  

For our television, we primarily watched broadcast network programming.  But cable companies were growing and rapidly building out their infrastructure to cities all over the country.  Primarily local governments who negotiated local franchises to allow coaxial cable to be strung on utility poles regulated the cable companies.  And we used cable to watch TV to get better signals, a few more channels and movies on HBO, but not much else.  We had remote control boxes from the cable company that had a cord that draped across the living room from TV to recliner.  

Back in the 80’s, large businesses had computers but not many mom and pops.  Our business computers offered some internal communications systems with an early form of email.  Computer screens were black with bright green letters, and the words would form slowly bit-by-byte across the screen, and documents were printed on scrolls of paper on sprockets.  We used computers in our businesses for data processing and financial records and for word processing, but not much for customer communications. 

Back then we used the phone for talking, and cable for TV, and computers for business. We even had free over the air TV — you could get the shows that pretty much everyone watched from one of the three big broadcast networks, and with a Watchman, you could even watch that broadcast TB with a little set in your hand.  

Yes, those were the days… and aren’t we glad we have made progress! Now we pay for pretty much all our access to technologies.  We have handheld computers called smart phones, we pay to get video from satellites, fiber cables or the internet offered by either phone or cable companies; we are untethered with cordless phones, earpieces, and even Google eyewear.  Just imagine what the next 25 years will bring… that Dick Tracy watch/smart phone/computer is just around the corner.  

But I still believe that if you have something important that you want your grandchildren to know (and yes you may have grandkids in the next 25 years!) then you should put in on paper — to survive the certain changes in communication and information technology, just make a scrapbook on acid-free paper and keep it in a waterproof box.