Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Hello?


In the late 1960's, in the rural midwest, Saturday night meant TV trays and an evening watching "Barn Dance" and "Lawrence Welk" with a glass, not a bottle mind you, of Coke or Pepsi, for a treat. Drinking the contents of an entire bottle of soda was considered gluttony.

As if this were not excitement enough for all gathered in TV Tray Land, one tiny glimmer of voyeuristic hope sat within arm's reach. Ring. Ring. Ring. Nope, not a cell phone. Nope, not a land line.

A Party Line. Ring. Ring. Ring. was not the ring tone for this home. Ring. Pause. Ring. Ring. was our cue to answer the phone. However, for those somewhat bored with the dancing trios on the TV, it couldn't hurt to pick up the phone, just in case. It was so easy to get those ring tones mixed up, especially with square dance callers hollering in the background.

Harmless stuff. Eavesdropping. A quick listen. Heck. Everyone did it. Who knows, maybe the seeds of Reality TV were sown on this fertile ground. Reality Phone. What were those crazy neighbors up to now? Mostly the usual, so and so saw so and so, doing this and that, over here and over there. But, oh my, once in awhile, someone was doing something with someone they shouldn't be doing it with or meeting up when they should be at home and oh my! CLICK.

And now? And now? Click. Click. Click. Welcome to the Internet. Universal Eavesdropping. Want to know about your neighbors? Go Google. Want to add TV highlights. Yoo hoo You Tube. Want to know more than you ever thought possible about people you met twenty years ago for about one minute and have spent twenty years trying to forget? Find Facebook. Want to know what your weatherman is thinking every single minute of every single day? Try Twitter.

Okay. Okay. I sound like my mother AND my grandmother, and to make matters worse I am sitting here BLOGGING! My point. Um. Yeah. What exactly was my point?

Too much information leads to too much talking leads to too much soda (
gluttony) leads to too much conversation when we should all just...

...hang up the phone, unplug the TV, Tweeter out, about Face, log off...and like Lawrence said..a one and a two..click your heels together and DANCE!

CLICK!