Our crazy phone craze redefines 'craze'

 Remember holding your first mobile phone? You can probably recall instantly the year that was, the make, almost hear againl that distinctive ringing sound, and a quite few other aspects of its amazing capabilities, too.

For a mariner, discovering the astonishing contactability via mobile phones suddenly available on terra firma seemed truly amazing.

As an operator of long-distance marine radio and Ham radio, I knew how very convenient and easy it was to speak to people on the other side of the world - no matter where you were in the world.

With marine VHF, a mariner could contact crew coming alongside in dinghies, or people forward of the foremast, or at the bow.

Semaphore and Morse

But to have the ability to do it all on the one gadget and on land! Next we'd be holidaying on the moon.

 My introduction to chatting at a distance, other than by semaphore and Morse, came with those Bakelite jobs with 0 – 9 dials. You wouldn’t have dreamed of taking one out of the house, not even more than a few feet from where it sat, usually in a hallway on its own little stand.

Then came the first mobile phones, great, heavy bricks of things that were wonderful, only not many people had them because they were slow to catch on back then.

It meant you could flaunt your own in public places – if your arms had the strength – but there weren’t many friends you could actually contact and be seen acting the extrovert.

 Gradually they were fed an Alice in Wonderland drug that quickly reduced them in size and grew them considerably in popularity.

Then did the masses buy and did the profiteers' profit begin to escalate!

 Our extraordinary passion

And what fortunes – what unbelievable amounts of hoot have changed hands thanks to our extraordinary passion for a mobile communicator, particularly a trendy one.

Consider perhaps the fortunes of perhaps the world's greediest innovator, Apple. Not only was the symbol of it Eve’s downfall, but what has the organisation's rapacity done to the world! Continues on the blogs for my ocean adventuring book, Sailing to Purgatory, at SailingToPurgatory.com