National Telephone Day 2020: Cool Facts on Telephone That Will Make You Feel Instantly Smarter

The telephone has been at the forefront of globalisation and its impact on human civilisation will always remain understated. The National Telephone Day celebrated on April 25 each year is a remembrance of this great invention by Alexander Graham Bell. Although with the digitisation of the world economies, the phones today have come a long way from what they were in the past. They are a driving force in people to people relationships, commercial endeavours, governance and several other named and unnamed sectors. It’s National Telephone Day 2020 Today: Know the History and Significance to Honour Alexander Graham Bell Whose Invention Made Communication Easy.

In May 1967 when the USA had its 100 millionth telephone installed, the governors and dignitaries of US states joined President Lyndon Johnson in one of the largest conference calls ever. Each of these dignitaries was given a gold phone to celebrate this day and thus a National Telephone Day celebration was declared in the country. On National Telephone Day, we take a look at some interesting facts surrounding the telephone.

• Although Graham Bell is known as the founder of the Telephone, the European Patent Office lists more than 100,000 inventions with the title ‘the telephone’.

• Alexander Graham Bell thought of the phrase ‘Ahoy’ when answering the telephone.

• The first telephone call was made on March 10, 1876, between Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Thomas A Watson.

• Mark Twain is one of the first persons to have a telephone at his home.

• The first phonebook was just a page long and was published in 1878.

• The first mobile phone available was the DynaTAC 800x which was released in 1983.

• In 1922, to honour Graham Bell after he died – all the telephone lines went quiet for one minute.

• The first smartphone was the Ericsson GS88 ‘Penelope’ which was released in 1997 and was hugely popular.

• An addiction to phone is called nomophobia and the feeling of hearing the phone is called ringxiety.

• In 2012-13, a phone every 43 seconds was stolen in England and Wales with a total count at 742,000.

Telephones are powerful tools and it is our duty to harness its true potential in a positive way. On National Telephone Day, we should thank the inventors who with each passing year bring tremendous advancements in this technology.

Today, almost everyone owns a phone and with each passing day, the customer base is only rising rapidly. With such a large number of subscribers, the volume of data generated has grown exponentially. The features available on them also vary dynamically and so is the threat associated with it. On National Telephone Day, it is imperative we learn about these data threats as well as indulge in phone calls with our friends and family. It is also the time to get nostalgic remembering our old phones which are depleting in numbers day by day. Happy National Telephone Day everyone!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 25, 2020 12:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).