While this was very cute and true…. the one challenge is… is that there were two benefits of the old school telephone book that we do not yet have via the “smart” phone technologies….. a) being able to find folk’s telephone number by using their last names, and b) being able to see in a page or few pages listings of all services/business of a category.
On the Internet, and especially with “smart” phones…. neither of the above two items are as available. There is no equivalency to the former “white pages” of the telephone book for real people to use. Sure, you can theoretically BUY into some sort of scheme that purports to do this…. but they do seem to be sketchy. And, you can do an internet search for services and such…. but they do not arise alphabetically, nor do they seem as complete as what was in the “yellow pages” of old. Instead, it seems you get a handful of options based upon what people have clicked on before, or based upon how much the business paid to get in/on the search engine. On a “smart” phone, searching for businesses you are not already familiar with is an even more onerous chore.
Watcher about 5 years ago
To a landline no less.
Templo S.U.D. about 5 years ago
just you wait, sonny, until you hear of pay phone booths
Zykoic about 5 years ago
Just wait until the next Carrington Event!
juncarlo about 5 years ago
“And in my time there was no Internet, we had to go to libraries to read books and do homework.”
Breadboard about 5 years ago
History from a Plugger who lived through it ! Plugger 101 :-)
pategar about 5 years ago
Right. What’s a catalog?
flemmingo about 5 years ago
Also a booster seat at the table for little ones!
ctolson about 5 years ago
And outhouses before flush toilets and corn cobs before Sear’s catalogs.
KEA about 5 years ago
back in the day, some plugger had to try to explain to a young’un how people used to write with feathers.
Pipe Tobacco Premium Member about 5 years ago
While this was very cute and true…. the one challenge is… is that there were two benefits of the old school telephone book that we do not yet have via the “smart” phone technologies….. a) being able to find folk’s telephone number by using their last names, and b) being able to see in a page or few pages listings of all services/business of a category.
On the Internet, and especially with “smart” phones…. neither of the above two items are as available. There is no equivalency to the former “white pages” of the telephone book for real people to use. Sure, you can theoretically BUY into some sort of scheme that purports to do this…. but they do seem to be sketchy. And, you can do an internet search for services and such…. but they do not arise alphabetically, nor do they seem as complete as what was in the “yellow pages” of old. Instead, it seems you get a handful of options based upon what people have clicked on before, or based upon how much the business paid to get in/on the search engine. On a “smart” phone, searching for businesses you are not already familiar with is an even more onerous chore.
Jan C about 5 years ago
Considering that in some areas phone books are still printed and distributed, this is sort of absurd.