My wife sent me this photo of my son from a recent visit to a children’s museum.
Yes, my family gets to go to children’s museums during the week while I slave away in the mines.
When I saw the image, I couldn’t help but wonder how Charlie understood how to use this device. It’s so unlike any telephone that he has ever seen in his life. The rotary dial, the cord, the immobile base, and even the separate, oversized, oddly shaped handset are all foreign to him.
Yet there he is, holding it to his ear, pretending to make a phone call.
Then again, I’ve also seen my son pretend to make phone calls using bananas and shoes, so perhaps imagination has a lot to do with it.
Yet somehow, bananas and shoes more closely resemble the phones Charlie has seen than this thing does. Think about it:
- Bananas and shoes are the same shape as our cordless phone.
- Bananas and shoes are portable, like every phone Charlie has ever seen.
- Bananas and shoes have no cords dangling from them.
- Bananas and shows have no finger wheels attached.
- Bananas and shoes have no numbers on their surfaces, just like our iPhones. To Charlie, most of the phones that he’s ever seen have clear, black surfaces. He’s probably never even seen the number pad on any iPhone.
I have to assume one of two things:
- Somehow, the ancient rotary phone has insinuated itself into the human genetic code.
- My son is a genius.
