I know I say it here all the time, but our world is changing.
We’re all getting older too. By the minute. So when the world changes, evolves, and moves either forward or, in some cases, backward, there are times when things disappear from existence.
And I have to tell you. One of the things I miss is the good old phone book.
Maybe they are still around in some places. But mostly, those paper behemoths have fallen to the wayside of electronic directories.
Growing up in Dayton, we had two huge phone books and one smaller book. The White Pages. The Yellow Pages. And then, the lesser Blue Pages that weren’t all blue.
You could do a lot with a phone book. They were fascinating to page through, for one thing. Especially the Yellow Pages. I used to love looking something up and seeing all the other kinds of businesses surrounding the listing. Carol’s Sewing Shop. Prescott’s Bakery. Jim’s Tire Service. Oh, it would go on and on.
And the White Pages. Oh, the fun of that. You needed the White Pages whenever there was a slumber party or sleepover. That was back in the day of no caller ID when crank phone calls were king. The fun of flipping open the book, keeping your eyes closed, and stabbing your finger at one of the names on a page.
S. McPherson……6324 Swenson Ave…… 513-275-8×93. Or some such person.
We’d dial. And deliver our prank lines.
Then there would be the shout from the other room:
“Who are you kids talking to in there?”
“Oh. Nobody.”
Those days, those days.
But phone books had all sorts of uses. They could prop a door open. They made for the perfect booster seat. You could press a flower underneath them. They made great drums with a couple of wooden spoons. They made great kneeling pads when you had to polish the low furniture. And on and on.
I’m thinking about phone books because the world’s first telephone directory was issued on this date, February 21, 1878. It was published in New Harbor, Connecticut, with 50 subscribers.
Heckins. The United States patent office had just issued patent 174465A to Alexander Graham Bell on March 7, 1876, for the telephone.
And two years later, we got our first phone book.
That first Connecticut telephone directory consisted of a single piece of cardboard. It listed, as mentioned, 50 individuals, businesses, and other offices with telephones.
The directory was not alphabetized, and no numbers were given with the people included in it. Pretty willy-nilly. But, a year later, in 1879, Dr. Moses Greeley Parker suggested a few changes. He thought the format of the telephone directory should list subscribers in alphabetical order. And, of course, each telephone would be identified with a number. He made these suggestions because he feared the local operator would get sick and no one would be able to make a call without her.
Those days are long gone. And mostly, so is the phone book.
I also heard on the news not long ago that the 411 (Information) service has been discontinued. And the “0” for operator no longer exists in many areas.
And people are up in arms about self-checkouts at the Walmart. I understand mostly. But I also try to remind them that the gas pump attendants fell to the wayside years ago. And before that? Horseless carriages met quite a resistance.
We are living in an automated society. And it will only continue to get more robotic as we go.
The world is constantly changing, my friends. We can either change with it or stay mired in the past. It is all up to us how we move or don’t move along.
But dang it. I miss the phone book.
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Growth is the only evidence of life.
— John Henry Newman
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The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice.
— George Eliot
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The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.
— Nathaniel Branden
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BUT. Then there is this.
All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.
— Ellen Glasgow
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Going, going gone. I miss the brick of the phone.
