Isn't Telephone Nostalgia Wonderful?

Part of the fun of blogging, especially if the blogger is extremely introverted, is the chance to connect with readers and - yes, to learn from them.  Another part of the joy of blogging is the chance to engage in nostalgia.

I learn a lot from my readers, perhaps more than they learn from me.

Tuesday's post was a learning experience.  It was also a surprise  When I was writing it, I said to myself, "No one is going to be interested in this."  Was I ever wrong.

Sometimes, the posts that I don't think will generate much interest are my most successful ones. 

What's a blogging success, after all?  Isn't it about exploring the connections we have with each other?  Sharing common experiences, and ones one generation may have experienced, but not everyone?

Tuesday's post talked about how I had dialed (not that I physically dial anything, anymore) phone numbers in a certain way for my entire life, and how that was about to change.

Turns out many of my readers were already inputting phone numbers the new (to me) way, and had been for years.  Lesson learned!  But not only that: 

One of my readers mentioned ring down phones.  I had never heard of this.  I learned something from that, and now, you can, too (although I'm not 100% sure that this is what my reader meant.).

That same commenter (thank you!) mentioned how we tell Siri now to call someone (if we have an iPhone.)  That reminds me, I can remember my childhood phone number (which started with two letters) so well.  But I sometimes forget my cell phone number.  I still haven't learned my spouse's cell phone number.  I just ask Siri or go to my contact list, after all.  How about you?

One of my readers mentioned telephone party lines.  I don't remember ever having a party line in my childhood Bronx apartment, but they existed. In fact, my original draft post devoted a paragraph to party lines.  I took it out because I didn't think anyone would care.  Wrong! (Hint, it's not how we held parties in the old, prehistoric days).

Writing this post  has generated even more memories.  If you want to dial N for Nostalgia, this article will do it for you. Turns out those old fashioned phones had a number of adventages.

Remember dialing phone numbers with a rotary dial?  It took a bit to learn how to dial, and wrong numbers were a lot more common than they are today.  You can still buy phones with dials, by the way, in case you want to go retro.  But the system that replaced rotary dialing was actually introduced in 1962.  Some automated systems will still ask you "if you have a touch tone phone, press 1 now", although so many young adults use cell phones and have to use a virtual touch tone keyboard.

One of my aunts, who died nearly 20 years ago, had a rotary wall phone in her kitchen until the day she died.  She also declined to use cell phones.  Her sons had bought her one, and, after her death, they found it in the trunk of her car.

Do you remember dial tones? (the tone that told you the line was available to make a call)?  I was amazed to discover that the dial tone was invented in 1908.  Now, there are a couple of generations of people who may have never heard that common sound of my youth and most of my adulthood.

Remember when you practically needed a bank loan to make a long distance phone call? (One of my readers brought that up). 

 Remember person-to-person calling and how you could circumvent the huge long distance charges?   This GEICO ad might remind you.

I could go on.

Isn't nostalgia a wonderful thing?

Saying Goodbye to Seven Digit Dialing

Years ago, spouse and I visited a rural telephone museum in Georgia. Ever since then, I've had a bit of a fascination with older forms of communication.  Please bear with me here, because there's some important information here if you live in the United States.

Some history:

Once upon a time, in the United States, phone numbers had four digits. This was back in the day (and you predate me if you remember those days) when operators had to manually complete the phone call for you. You can still see these four digit numbers in old advertisements. They phased this out nationwide between 1947 and 1951, (earlier in some places) when "exchanges" were introduced nationwide. 

This was so dialing could replace the ever present operator except when you called the operator (by dialing "zero") on purpose.  (This explanation is an oversimplification, and if you care, here's a more detailed explanation.)

These changes must have been painful for adults, I now realize.

I  remember when exchanges were names, as you can hear from this Glenn Miller classic, PEnnsylvania 6-5000.   (I love it when his orchestra yells out "Pennsylvania 6-5 oh oh oh").  This would have been dialed (remember dialing?) PE6-5000.  Eventually, the exchange names became numbers (the first two letters mapped to numbers) and PE6-5000 became 736-5000. (No, please, don't dial it to see what happens!)

"Yukon", as another example, became the exchange"98" and a third digit. That matters now for a lot of people.

Still with me?

At this time, all local U.S. phone numbers have seven digits, for example, 555-1212. You also have a three digit area code.  If you call a number outside your area code, you dial the area code first.  If you are making a local call, you don't dial it (although there are some exceptions.)

There are about 325 area codes in the United States, representing different areas of the country.  Sometimes, bigger cities have more than one area code.  New York City residents cope with six area codes. 

Finally, there are some three digit nationwide numbers, such as 911. Americans use 911 to call our emergency services - police, fire and ambulances (ONLY in case of emergency). We're also going to get another three digit number next year, 988.  It's for a good cause, but it's going to be an adjustment.

Fast forward now to July 22, 2022, the day the United States will adopt the three digits "988" as the nationwide number for the suicide prevention hotline.

But what about all those people in areas with 988 exchanges? If they call a number beginning with 988 won't there be a problem?

Well, yes.

So, starting on October 24 (that's next week, dear readers), for anyone in an area code which has a 988 exchange, we will have to dial an area code before all phone numbers.   It will be the only way to differentiate calls to a local 988 exchange vs. calls to the suicide prevention hotline, and we'll have some time to get used to the new dialing before the suicide hotline 988 becomes active. 

DON'T CALL 988 FOR THE SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE UNTIL JULY 16 2022.  UNTIL THEN, THE NUMBER IS 1-800-273-8255.

I live in one of the affected area codes.

Habits of 60 plus years are sure hard to break, never mind having to go through my cell phone's contacts list and add the area code to all my local numbers.   People with certain automated systems are going to have to reprogram them, too.

Of course, my New York City relatives have had to dial 10 digits for the last few years, but now most of us can feel their pain.

It's not my favorite thing, but I tell myself....change can be good.

It's for a good cause.

Are you affected?