When I was 16, my phone was engaged between 11 pm and 3 am. I did not consider myself popular, but I had a lot of friends. They would all call me - some would get through, others would call back a couple of times. I would go to school the next day with blood shot eyes, the bloodier the eyes, the more the friends.
Over the next few years, phone calls reduced - first, instead of 4 hours, to two hours, and then one hour, around midnight. Slowly, the phone calls shifted to during office hours, a brief phone call, with only a couple of friends calling in the evening for more than 5 minutes.
Today, as I turn 33, I got only one call from a friend, everyone else wished me on Instagram, LinkedIn and Whatsapp. My bank and my hospital sent me an email wishing me. The one constant has been my immediate family. While I'm grateful for my family, I can't help but feel a little sadness at how the number of phone calls, friends and hours of conversations went to a flat line.
The graph, you ask? Yes, I drew it. I gifted my husband randomly one day an apple pencil.
If you don't get it, it's fine - just goes to show that over the 15 years, nobody has time to pick up the phone and talk, even on one's birthday.
SS
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