Paging Systems - Bringing Back the Cool Factor
It is interesting to see how the public perception and
'street-cred' of paging systems has changed over the years. Paging and
pagers have been around for quite a long time but it was really back in
the 1980s, those famous 'yuppie years', that they became widespread and
used by many. Back then it was really a sign of the ultimate in coolness
if you had a pager clipped to your belt. Your cool quotient also went
up several degrees if somebody occasionally actually paged you on it!
Of course, things then quickly changed. In terms of a social accessory, the pager and paging systems may have scored highly in terms of conveying a certain image about you, but unfortunately they also meant that you could no longer make the excuse that you could not be contacted. The pager, coupled with the arrival of the mobile phone, really put an end to people being able to use the above excuse with employers or sometimes, hopefully rarely, the 'other half'.
As a result, pagers started to be seen as being a necessary and valuable tool rather than a fashion item, and they also started to become eclipsed in 'trendy' terms by the arrival of sensibly sized mobile phones in the late 80s and early 1990s.
Yet times change, as do people's perceptions. Today, the mobile phone has become part and parcel of daily humdrum life. Yes, it is possible to be impressed for a few moments by the latest model that has some sort of special screen or which can make your breakfast at the same time as you use it to browse the Internet. However, the fact is that mobile phones are no longer really 'super-cool'. They have been around now for 30 years and while they are getting smaller and cleverer, in a social setting they are now taken for granted.
Yet it is a pretty different situation when one is talking about paging systems and radio pagers.
For some reason, and one can only speculate why, they still seem pretty cool if they go off while you are in a bar, restaurant or party. There is something about the radio pager that has connotations of urgency and importance that somehow has simply been lost in the area of mobile phones.
Possibly television has something to do with it. If you are a devotee of things such as House or CSI, you'll regularly see apparently very important people being beeped for serious mission-critical reasons. Now OK, perhaps when your radio pager gets beeped, it is typically more likely to be your partner demanding to know if you've remembered the peas rather than the UN asking you to urgently fly out and resolve a global conflict. The point is though, that others around you don't know that. As far as they are concerned, you have been paged so that must mean that you are pretty important stuff! This just cannot work with a mobile phone where everybody will hear you say, in a slightly hushed voice, "was that frozen or tinned dear?"
So paging systems, which were once cool and then spent a few years in the shadow of mobile phones, are now cool again!
Of course, things then quickly changed. In terms of a social accessory, the pager and paging systems may have scored highly in terms of conveying a certain image about you, but unfortunately they also meant that you could no longer make the excuse that you could not be contacted. The pager, coupled with the arrival of the mobile phone, really put an end to people being able to use the above excuse with employers or sometimes, hopefully rarely, the 'other half'.
As a result, pagers started to be seen as being a necessary and valuable tool rather than a fashion item, and they also started to become eclipsed in 'trendy' terms by the arrival of sensibly sized mobile phones in the late 80s and early 1990s.
Yet times change, as do people's perceptions. Today, the mobile phone has become part and parcel of daily humdrum life. Yes, it is possible to be impressed for a few moments by the latest model that has some sort of special screen or which can make your breakfast at the same time as you use it to browse the Internet. However, the fact is that mobile phones are no longer really 'super-cool'. They have been around now for 30 years and while they are getting smaller and cleverer, in a social setting they are now taken for granted.
Yet it is a pretty different situation when one is talking about paging systems and radio pagers.
For some reason, and one can only speculate why, they still seem pretty cool if they go off while you are in a bar, restaurant or party. There is something about the radio pager that has connotations of urgency and importance that somehow has simply been lost in the area of mobile phones.
Possibly television has something to do with it. If you are a devotee of things such as House or CSI, you'll regularly see apparently very important people being beeped for serious mission-critical reasons. Now OK, perhaps when your radio pager gets beeped, it is typically more likely to be your partner demanding to know if you've remembered the peas rather than the UN asking you to urgently fly out and resolve a global conflict. The point is though, that others around you don't know that. As far as they are concerned, you have been paged so that must mean that you are pretty important stuff! This just cannot work with a mobile phone where everybody will hear you say, in a slightly hushed voice, "was that frozen or tinned dear?"
So paging systems, which were once cool and then spent a few years in the shadow of mobile phones, are now cool again!
Michael Harris is the Marketing Manager for Multitone Systems, a communications strategies company that has provided paging systems and pagers for organisations in the public and private sector for many years.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=M._Harris
posted by global take off at
4:57 AM
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