How would have mobile phones changed your wonder years?

I wish I had a mobile phone when I was growing up – more specifically, when I was in the age group five to ten.

To be honest, that statement is slightly inaccurate. For the mobile phone to be really useful, my family and friends also should have had mobile phones, each with a very generous data plan. But still, if I have had a mobile phone when I was a kid…

I would have cried much less when my mom got transferred in her job and had to move 150 miles away. She did come home every weekend, but at the age of five, after watching all the angst ridden Indian movies where parents who travel away for jobs, have accidents, get killed or develop amnesia, I did cry many many times on many, many days. A mobile phone would have helped me to obsessively call my mom every five minutes. Coming to think of it, it is actually a good thing that I did not have that phone.

I would have had photographs and funny videos of the dogs, cats, goats, tortoises and fish — my pets down the ages – I could have had my own personal collection of LOL pics to gaze at for the rest of my life.

I could have blackmailed my cousins more effectively – played video games and watched TV instead of doing homework, hit the younger ones, used profanity – all accounted for through mobile pics and videos. On second thoughts, it is better that we did not have phones back then, else it would have been like something like this.

Class notes would have been so easy to copy. Take a couple of photographs and voila! You have all the information you need. And when you sneak out of the classroom when the teacher has stepped out, a missed call acts as a warning signal to get the hell back in there.

It would have been so much easier to call up dad and remind him to pickup new books from the library when he comes back from work.

I could have had many more impromptu meetings with my friends.

The possibilities of conference call gossiping would have been amazing.

When dad was late to home, mom would not have worried herself sick thinking that he had a fatal accident. On the other hand, attending a call every five minutes while driving in the evening definitely could have led to a fatal accident.

I would have had crazy, crazy ringtones that drove everyone around me mad.

There would have been demerits at school for using a mobile phone in class.

There would have been much angst over whose phone looked the prettiest or was the most covered in Hello-Kitty and Disney stickers.

Phone charms would have topped the list of birthday presents.

Along with the pen swapping cartel ( one of the better deals I had was swapping a black Parker pen and promise to pick the other party into my team whenever we play for a pink glittery Chinese pen – and yes, my parents were not pleased: how did you know? ) there would have been a mobile phone swapping cartel that would have driven parents and teachers crazy.

How would have mobile phones changed your wonder years?