This is a non-answer in a way, because it's set in the past.
I think it might have been in the early '90s - certainly it was when mobile phones were new and faddish and the province of people with more money than sense. There was an earthquake in Thailand, and newspapers reported that survivors were calling for help from inside fallen buildings ON THEIR MOBILE PHONES. At the time I thought that was the most purely science-fictional real event I'd ever heard of.
These days, of course, I've got to stretch my mind to see why that should seem even slightly unusual.
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This is a non-answer in a way, because it's set in the past.
I think it might have been in the early '90s - certainly it was when mobile phones were new and faddish and the province of people with more money than sense. There was an earthquake in Thailand, and newspapers reported that survivors were calling for help from inside fallen buildings ON THEIR MOBILE PHONES. At the time I thought that was the most purely science-fictional real event I'd ever heard of.
These days, of course, I've got to stretch my mind to see why that should seem even slightly unusual.