One generation away, teens react to Windows 95

[RoJoHen]

Which is really strange, since it's something I expect to have happen the next time I take a taxi to the local mall. If I decide to get the taxi to pick me up somewhere other than at Walmart, I'll need to go to the pay phone, put in two quarters (local pay phones cost 50 cents here), punch in the number, and tell the dispatcher where to pick me up.

Maybe in your region they're still around, but when I say they're "hard to find," I mean it would probably take me days to locate one. Any attempt to teach kids how to use one would probably require a road trip.

Hell, even calling a taxi is becoming outdated technology. All our cab companies have started going out of business ever since Uber came to town. It's easier, faster, and cheaper than a traditional taxi.

I appreciate wanting to have an understanding of older technology, but there comes a point where you're just learning unnecessary information.

 

[Tesophius]

I've seen a payphone a few years ago on the US-Canadian border and my group was so excited that we all came out to take pictures in and around it, because no one has seen one in over a decade.

 

[RoJoHen]

The last pay phone I remember seeing was when I worked at TGI Fridays 10 years ago. It was part of the "old timey" decor and didn't actually work. Then we remodeled the building, and they got rid of it.

 

[Kemaiku]

I haven't seen a physical payphone in my area in quite a few years. There were two in the market square near the bus station but they've become so rotted through no one has obviously touched them in over ten years. I doubt they were hooked up for some time before that.

I've seen rotary phones in museums but never operated one. Even my landline is a cordless, colour screen handset with a fair amount of memory. The cradle is connected to the wall but little else phone related is now.

My iPhone goes everywhere with me so there's not much point. In most western nations, a phone line is only really necessary for broadband, or maybe that's just a UK thing.

 

[RoJoHen]

My iPhone goes everywhere with me so there's not much point. In most western nations, a phone line is only really necessary for broadband, or maybe that's just a UK thing.

I'd guess that most US internet goes through your cable company these days. I don't know too many people that still have DSL through their phone line.

 

[Kemaiku]

Ahh, in the UK all broadband needs to at least have an active phone line to the house. They install a new adapter with two ports, one for the landline, one for the broadband cable to the router.

 

[Timewalker]

Maybe in your region they're still around, but when I say they're "hard to find," I mean it would probably take me days to locate one. Any attempt to teach kids how to use one would probably require a road trip.

Hell, even calling a taxi is becoming outdated technology. All our cab companies have started going out of business ever since Uber came to town. It's easier, faster, and cheaper than a traditional taxi.

I appreciate wanting to have an understanding of older technology, but there comes a point where you're just learning unnecessary information.

Okay, so you probably live in some metropolis where everything's done electronically and the last people who remember how to do things manually are 150 years old. At least that's the impression I get from this conversation. What happens if a person needs a taxi and doesn't have a cell phone - they have to walk? Are the Uber drivers trained to help physically disabled people?

If Uber is in my city, I haven't heard about it (it could be, but since it would likely have come up on City Hall's administrative radar and none of the emails I've received has mentioned it, I don't get the impression that it's a problem here - yet). For me, calling a taxi means picking up a phone. Even hailing one in the street isn't common here.

 

[RoJoHen]

Believe it or not, there's stuff available on VHS that isn't available on DVD.

As far as I'm concerned, DVDs are outdated technology as well.

 

[Kemaiku]

Yup, and if it's VHS only, it's either shit or dodgy so it's no loss.

 

[RoJoHen]

Okay, so you probably live in some metropolis where everything's done electronically and the last people who remember how to do things manually are 150 years old. At least that's the impression I get from this conversation. What happens if a person needs a taxi and doesn't have a cell phone - they have to walk? Are the Uber drivers trained to help physically disabled people?

If Uber is in my city, I haven't heard about it (it could be, but since it would likely have come up on City Hall's administrative radar and none of the emails I've received has mentioned it, I don't get the impression that it's a problem here - yet). For me, calling a taxi means picking up a phone. Even hailing one in the street isn't common here.

Not a metropolis. More like the suburbs.

We don't have cabs driving around that you can hail. You want to call a cab the traditional way, expect to wait at least 30-45 minutes for it to even show up. You want an Uber, it'll be there in 2.

I don't know what kind of training Uber drivers go through, though.

And if a person needs a taxi and doesn't have a cellphone, yep, they pretty much have to walk. Or ask somebody else to borrow a phone.

We do have buses, but they only run until 10pm.

Honestly, if you don't have a cellphone and a car, you're pretty limited on what you can do around here.

 

[Tesophius]

The act of someone using a payphone to call for a cab brings up an image of a black and white movie to me.

 

[Timewalker]

The act of someone using a payphone to call for a cab brings up an image of a black and white movie to me.

Well, I guess you'd get a shock if you visited here, because I assure you that I live in a world with color.

It just doesn't happen to be a huge city or somewhere with suburbs a ridiculous distance out in the middle of nowhere.

Unless it's a really busy time of day or the weather's bad, I can reasonably expect a taxi to show up within 20 minutes, and often within 10 minutes.

 

[RoJoHen]

It just doesn't happen to be a huge city or somewhere with suburbs a ridiculous distance out in the middle of nowhere.

It doesn't take a long time because we're in the middle of nowhere. It takes a long time because we have half a million people and only about 8 total cabs. As I said, Uber drove them out of business.

We live in a time of cellphones. It's just the way it is. Even if you can't afford one, there are government programs that will get you one because it's become such a basic necessity.

 

[C. Cole-Chakotay]

I grew up using a rotary phone and I could still use one. I don't have a cell phone, but love my landline. In fact, when I moved, I was able to keep the only number I have ever known - 50 + years with the same phone number! I have a VCR and DVD player, but don't use them often. I watch videos online when possible.

I have used PCs since Windows 95/98, when the office I worked in began using computers. I have taught myself what I need to know to care for my PC and software.

 

[Timewalker]

It doesn't take a long time because we're in the middle of nowhere. It takes a long time because we have half a million people and only about 8 total cabs. As I said, Uber drove them out of business.

We live in a time of cellphones. It's just the way it is. Even if you can't afford one, there are government programs that will get you one because it's become such a basic necessity.

Maybe your government has such a program. Mine sure doesn't. You still can't convince some people that a phone and internet access are necessities, period, never mind convincing them that the phone has to be a cellphone.

"Oh, just use the internet at the library, it's free." is what I hear from people in other cities.

Nope, the public library is not free here. I can go in and read a book, but I can't take it home with me unless I fork over $10 for an annual membership. I also can't use the computer there unless I pay for the membership. There isn't anywhere in this city that I know of that has computers available to the public, free of charge.

I grew up using a rotary phone and I could still use one. I don't have a cell phone, but love my landline. In fact, when I moved, I was able to keep the only number I have ever known - 50 + years with the same phone number! I have a VCR and DVD player, but don't use them often. I watch videos online when possible.

I have used PCs since Windows 95/98, when the office I worked in began using computers. I have taught myself what I need to know to care for my PC and software.

I've still got the same phone number I've had since 1975.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Are all of you who are talking about payphones being rare and hard-to-find serious, or just joking? There is literally a Bell payphone at the variety store at the end of my street, about a five-minute walk from my house. I needed to use a payphone when I was downtown last summer, and found one within two minutes of looking. (Yes, before anyone asks, I *do* have a cell phone.) Sure, they don't have banks of them in the malls anymore, but you can usually find one or two in a mall easily enough. Is my city really that unusual in that respect?

 

[Timewalker]

Are all of you who are talking about payphones being rare and hard-to-find serious, or just joking? There is literally a Bell payphone at the variety store at the end of my street, about a five-minute walk from my house. I needed to use a payphone when I was downtown last summer, and found one within two minutes of looking. (Yes, before anyone asks, I *do* have a cell phone.) Sure, they don't have banks of them in the malls anymore, but you can usually find one or two in a mall easily enough. Is my city really that unusual in that respect?

Some places have had them removed here because drug dealers use them to set up transactions. That's why, if I want a cab from my usual grocery store, I don't get a choice of which company to use, because one company's direct line is all there is.

 

[scotpens]

. . . I've read recently about kids who don't know how to turn physical pages on books and magazines, since they only understand how to use touch screens.

I do hope you're being facetious. Not knowing how to turn the pages of a book is like not knowing how to chew and swallow food.

I have heard, though, that some younger people nowadays can't tell time by a traditional clock, since they've grown up with nothing but digital time-and-date displays.

Old people still have landlines, but mainly because they've had phone service for decades and don't want to bother loosing their old phone number.

I've had a landline phone for the last 30 years, and I don't consider myself "old." Landlines still have some advantages over cellphones. For one thing, they still work if the power goes out and they never need recharging. Landline service is still more reliable than cellular -- you don't get "dead zones" or dropped calls.

And it's "losing," not "loosing."

 

[fireproof78]

There use to be a payphone in the strip mall I work at, but it was removed. I still get a lot of customers who ask to use our phone to call for a ride. We also have phone books so people can find numbers. My company still uses land lines as they are still able to be used during a power outage.

Cell phones are common but not ubiquitous. There are even small towns around where people don't have email or computers.

 

[Avro Arrow]

OK, it turns out that I had to run out tonight to go pick someone up. So I snapped these pics (with my cell phone, oh teh ironeez!) so that all of you who haven't seen a payphone in decades can marvel at the technology of a bygone era!

This is at the variety store at the end of my street. (I drive by here all the time, and still forgot that there's not just one phone... there are two!)

And then not more than three minutes of driving later, I noticed a phone outside this store too. (Sorry about the image; the store was closed so all the parking lot lights were off.)

Is it possible that those of you who say that there are no payphones around, just aren't really seeing them because you don't need to look for them? Our minds and senses do tend to gloss over details that aren't important to us...