ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Timeline of the telephone

Okay kiddo, have you ever talked to someone on the phone? Do you know what a telephone is? It's a machine that lets you talk to someone who is far away from you, like your grandma or your best friend who moved to a different city.

A long time ago, before you were born, people didn't have telephones. They had to talk to each other in person or write letters if they wanted to talk to someone far away. But then, some very smart people started thinking about ways to talk to each other without being in the same place.

In the year 1876, a man named Alexander Graham Bell invented the first telephone. It was a big, heavy machine with a box you had to hold up to your ear and a mouthpiece you had to talk into. Bell became famous because he was the first person to make a successful long-distance phone call between two cities.

Later on, other people started improving the telephone. They made it smaller and easier to use. They added new features like a dial for you to choose the number you wanted to call. They even made phones that didn't need wires! These were called "cell phones" because they used cells, or small areas, to pick up signals and send them to other phones.

Nowadays, we use telephones all the time. We have phones in our pockets that we can use to call, text, and even take pictures and play games. And it all started because Alexander Graham Bell had an idea about how to talk to someone far away, and he worked hard to make it a reality.