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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow is it Gen Zers don't know what this is
Last edited Sun Nov 10, 2019, 10:35 AM - Edit history (3)
or how to use it.
When I knew growing up what this was and how I would use it, even though I never saw one in person.
?h=550&w=550
I'm ok with being a boomer.
On Edit:
I am editing this because I have been corrected that I am thinking about Generation Z and not Millenials. My apologies for any I have offended.
Laffy Kat
(16,386 posts)edhopper
(33,606 posts)"long distance".
Laffy Kat
(16,386 posts)okieinpain
(9,397 posts)About long distance.
MyOwnPeace
(16,937 posts)*calling long distance "person-to-person" (you didn't have to pay if that person wasn't there!)
*collect calls (some pathetic family member making YOU pay for their call to you! )
KentuckyWoman
(6,690 posts)MyOwnPeace
(16,937 posts)and travelling home the parents always wanted to know what time to expect me.
I'd place a "person-to-person" call for ME, Mom or Dad would say "He's not here...."
I'd tell the operator (of course, they could hear the response!) that I'd call back at say 7:30, the expected arrival time!
Maeve
(42,287 posts)But then I also remember having a party line.
Waiting for the "Ok, Boomer" post to hit
tblue37
(65,483 posts)Ohiogal
(32,045 posts)FRanklin4-9383
MineralMan
(146,325 posts)We didn't have dial phones until 1963.
Grammy23
(5,810 posts)MyOwnPeace
(16,937 posts)Maeve
(42,287 posts)Oh, yeah
tblue37
(65,483 posts)Backseat Driver
(4,394 posts)hanging on the wall; likely the same one of my childhood, at least the last time I checked about 20+ years ago. My dad was a Bell employee since before WWII. Always on the same page, the two of them--estranged/dead - what's the difference? Change is far easier now - one just forgets what came before, and then slip off the slope. As RW fundie Christians, they really meant it when they give you away. That damned device was supposed to bring people together, but, her words, "no news is good news."
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)I found the letters were a bit easier to memorize than 7 numerals. I don't know why they got rid of their usage in the late 60s. Maybe the letters were a holdover from the operator based systems?
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,827416,00.html
Sounds too familiar.......
tblue37
(65,483 posts)had to stay quiet so you could hear?
And remember sharing a party line?
Laffy Kat
(16,386 posts)What a long way we've come.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)Getting rid of that has been a wonderful element of mobile phones.
Response to tblue37 (Reply #34)
LuvNewcastle This message was self-deleted by its author.
Baitball Blogger
(46,756 posts)in the dorm hall can hear your conversation?
TheBlackAdder
(28,211 posts)Ohiogal
(32,045 posts)Was particularly maddening!
TheBlackAdder
(28,211 posts)Demovictory9
(32,468 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(22,397 posts)edhopper
(33,606 posts)Seen it with my nieces.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,397 posts)edhopper
(33,606 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(22,397 posts)use a rotary phone, and some dont?
mucifer
(23,559 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(22,397 posts)JonLP24
(29,322 posts)Those kind of phones were still around when I was young. I even had a black and white TV as a kid.
Crunchy Frog
(26,617 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(22,397 posts)leftyladyfrommo
(18,869 posts)They came with 2 parties or 4.
A phone call was fun. We ran to grab it and see who was on our line.
unc70
(6,117 posts)We were in the boonies of eastern NC when we finally got phone service around 1958. The line could support up to ten parties, though rarely was fully subscribed. In addition to most of our neighbors, there was also an elementary school. We only heard the rings for half the parties. There was a variety of ring combinations.
hlthe2b
(102,342 posts)torch singers my parents and grandparents were "gaga" over. Millenials increasingly deny knowing who the Beatles are.
Hell, I even knew what these things were (all decades before my time):
and
and
Now it seems they don't even know what this is
ismnotwasm
(41,998 posts)EARLY Led Zeppelin. With a Stairway to Heaven pun. I asked her it she made it, she did, then I surreptitiously glanced around the room to see if anybody knew who they were or even got the pun
hlthe2b
(102,342 posts)They shook their heads slightly at me, or just looked blank. I didnt pursue it
CaptYossarian
(6,448 posts)(18 years old) looked and said, "I feel I should know those guys."
I had no response.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)and then ran in circles making whoop whoop whoop sounds?
You almost made me wake up the whole house with that.
CaptYossarian
(6,448 posts)brush
(53,833 posts)Both not that long ago.
hlthe2b
(102,342 posts)Codeine
(25,586 posts)brush
(53,833 posts)Rice Krispies, another thing Gen Zers know little about
MyOwnPeace
(16,937 posts)friends had a young daughter who loved Rice Crispies. Everybody knew the commercial and the "Snap, crackle, pop" that they made when you added the milk.
I asked the little girl what she liked about them.
She said, "They go pop, snackle, crap!"
MrsCoffee
(5,803 posts)Yeah, I discovered my daughter hacking into my AOL account when she was 12 when I got a $600 phone bill.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,362 posts)Fountain pens mystify me. Messy magic.
I like the "Millennial anti-theft device for cars:
hlthe2b
(102,342 posts)appalachiablue
(41,168 posts)MyOwnPeace
(16,937 posts)can't read cursive writing!!!!!!
ismnotwasm
(41,998 posts)Why should they care?
edhopper
(33,606 posts)is actually important.
TDale313
(7,820 posts)Most of them know what they are/look like... but they may not necessarily know how to dial one. The cursive thing? That makes me sad, cause it means they wont necessarily be able to real older documents. How to dial a phone theyre never gonna have to use? Not so much. They know tech they actually use way better than we GenXers or Boomers do.
edhopper
(33,606 posts)They know apps, but many don't understand the tech.
lastlib
(23,271 posts)--Arthur C. Clarke
"Any technology sufficiently BACKWARD is indistinguishable from magic."
--lastlib
I had a field day talking with my GenY/Z co-workers about obsolete technology. One day I brought in my old slide rule--they had never seen one, and were totally mystified by how it worked. It was really funny to see their reaction to it.
demmiblue
(36,875 posts)That is more of an issue that is attributed to late Gen Z.
I find that people confuse the two generations in certain areas.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)One uses it and has beautiful script, one refuses utterly. Their teachers dont care either way as long as the work is turned in on time.
The only cursive my GenX ass uses is when I sign something, and thats an indecipherable mess at the best of times.
demmiblue
(36,875 posts)although I know a teacher who is in a school district where it is not part of the ELA curriculum starting this year.
The Common Core Standards do not provide that schools teach it, which is where I think a lot of the misconception is coming from.
Some states have added the requirement to teach cursive into their educational standards. For instance, I read an article about Louisiana (a Common Core state) requiring it in 3rd grade, as well as throughout the curriculum until graduation. A bit of overkill, no?!
I am more concerned about the testing culture that has plagued both our children and our teachers. https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-really-learn-our-children-need-the-power-of-play-11565262002
I still use cursive when sending a card. But, like you, my signature... My mother's handwriting is a work of art!
Happy Hoosier
(7,375 posts)I mean, not many people can read this:
Styles of writing change.
Mariana
(14,860 posts)Most people never read older documents directly. The most frequently read ones have printed copies available, or nowadays, text on a website. Anyone who wants to get into history or genealogy will have to learn to read cursive, but there's no need for everyone to be forced to learn it in school.
ismnotwasm
(41,998 posts)I know they were very important, that they existed, but I wouldnt know how to use one.
Mariana
(14,860 posts)Pray tell us what negative consequences you expect them to incur from their inability to perform this particular skill.
Response to ismnotwasm (Reply #12)
pepperbear This message was self-deleted by its author.
brooklynite
(94,699 posts)edhopper
(33,606 posts)it's understanding how it was done.
I know what this is:
Harker
(14,033 posts)We all know what a butter churn looks like.
KentuckyWoman
(6,690 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)edhopper
(33,606 posts)Codeine
(25,586 posts)As dual-purpose a device as Ive ever seen.
IronLionZion
(45,514 posts)not in the stream, but with a bucket, washboard, and yes a damn rock. That happens when traveling overseas in developing countries.
Even here in the well developed USA, plenty of hippie types hang up their clothes to dry to cut down on energy use of a dryer.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)Doc_Technical
(3,527 posts)A.G.B.
edhopper
(33,606 posts)is on the other end.
demmiblue
(36,875 posts)They would probably figure it out pretty quickly.
I don't think my mom even knows how to send a text message.
Technology/modes of communication change over time.
I know how to use this "telephone" because I saw reruns of the show on TV:
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)One minor hit back makes you rabid raccoons.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,397 posts)What theyre really verbalizing is at least one of these thoughts:
* When did I get so old?
* How did this change happen so quickly?
* I dont understand some things; can I use this metaphor to remind myself that I do know some things?
And its a sign they should be asking themselves these questions:
* Is this knowledge relevant? Is it interesting, useful, trivial, dead?
* Would my skills and knowledge about this be useful to someone? Can I share it?
* Am I using this knowledge to gatekeep? To help myself feel relevant? To stave off the growing understanding that death does in fact come for us all, even boomers and millennials?
edhopper
(33,606 posts)I just find with older things that I was aware of when I was the age of millenials today. they are not aware of things that would be analogous today.
Is it the lack of boomers sharing knowledge, or the millenials indifference to it?
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)Stop bragging about dinosaur skills.
edhopper
(33,606 posts)But I would need time to review my very rusty Morse Code.
hlthe2b
(102,342 posts)insulated with straw, sawdust and earth.
But, you know what? I'm interested to learn these things and so much else. I'm no Luddite, so I try to understand technology AS WELL. And THAT is what concerns me about some of our youth. Their attention seems far more limited. There are risks that come from lack of curiosity and knowledge of history. As per my sigline.
edhopper
(33,606 posts)knowing how to use an app does not mean they understand technology.
rickyhall
(4,889 posts)I used to love listening to old people's stories growing. These kids just want hear it. Video games make them so much smarter than us. Not...
Codeine
(25,586 posts)its a personality thing. For every kid like yourself who wanted to hear grandpa talk about France in 1944 there were fifty kids who didnt. Thats normal; most people arent as fascinated by history and the past as folks like you and I.
I have two kids, one of whom cares nothing for history and the other who will happily sit with me while I watch videos or listen to podcasts about the Hittites or Boudicca or D-Day. Oddly, the kid who isnt into history is probably the smarter of the two. People are engaged by different things.
brush
(53,833 posts)invented/oversaw much tech that many take for granted.
MineralMan
(146,325 posts)And computers, and all that other technology. We can also use TV sets with no remotes and VCRs. Clearly, we're more versatile.
In 1963, I took my first computer programming classes. In FORTRAN. Boomers invented the PC and its operating systems. Boomers created the first cell phones. I had my first one in 1991. I can also build a radio if I have some wire and a chunk of galena. From memory.
But, I can still use a double-log slide rule, as well. One of my cars has a manual transmission, and I tested for my driver's licence on a manual transmission car. So, I can drive any car i can sit down in. Some millennials can, too, but pretty much all boomers can.
We can also fix a cassette tape that has unspooled itself, if we need to. We have playlists on our phones, too, but they're mostly older tunes, although not necessarily. We can text you millennials, if you insist, but we generally prefer to talk. It's OK. We can do both just fine. We can easily use our phones to get driving directions, or a GPS system, although those are obsolete, now. However, we can still use a road map or even a book of road maps, and find our way where we need to go.
We don't care what a clock looks like. We can read it, regardless of its method of displaying the time. Hell, I can read a sundial or even make one, if need be.
I can roll a joint with one hand, if you like, too. I can even start a fire to light that joint with a couple of sticks or a piece of rock and my pocket knife.
Boomers can do more things than most millennials can do, because we had the old tech before we invented the new tech. We're not obsolete. We are just more experienced.
edhopper
(33,606 posts)ismnotwasm
(41,998 posts)I am under the impression that millennials are irritated at the world they have inherited, and as they are at peak production, they are also starting to be replaced by they next generation. They arent getting credit for being as productive as they are.
I see a lot of growing up in the 90s memes, the same way boomers might use the 50s or 60s.
People are people are people
MineralMan
(146,325 posts)Last edited Sat Nov 9, 2019, 03:42 PM - Edit history (1)
There was a story last week about millennials saying, "Hey, Boomers! Retire!" Apparently, us old folks are still working and are in the jobs the younger folks want. They're impatient for us to go away.
I remember feeling that way at one time, too. But, then, I quit working at W-2 jobs and started working for myself, instead.
Older people know more stuff, because they have accumulated knowledge by accretion. It's not that they can't use the current latest technology. Of course they can, but they can also still use old tech, even if they don't on a regular basis. You can't do well unless you can adopt new tech and new methods, so we all have to learn those.
If you're a Gen-Xer, you don't have to be able to use a rotary dial phone. There's probably one at grandma's house, but even she doesn't use it much any more. She has a flip phone or maybe even an iPhone 11.
The elders are nostalgic about their old crap, but they can use the latest stuff, too. Still, they're not put off by having to step back and use old technology if necessary.
I took my new old pickup to the tire shop to get new tires for it. The sales guy asked me if the truck had a manual transmission. I said, "Yeah." So, he said, I'll have to get one of the older guys to drive it around, then. Apparently, they have youngsters working there who can't drive a stick shift. I find that really odd in an auto repair place, really. There are still plenty of manual transmissions around. But, you don't have to be able to drive one to work at a tire shop? How strange.
Old tech is obsolete, sort of. However, you can still buy a stick shift car, brand new. It's about $1000 cheaper than the automatic transmission model. The 2013 KIA Soul we just traded in had a 6-speed manual transmission. My wife wanted an automatic this time, so we spent the extra $1000.
I admire the energy of youth, but have always also respected the accumulated knowledge of my elders. Now, I'm one of those elders. I still have old knowledge, but that doesn't mean I'm not completely current on the new technology. If your iPhone isn't working, hand it to me, and I'll fix the setting you screwed up in a minute or two. I've done it dozens of times for young folks who have somehow messed up their settings. I understand the settings, so I can find and reset what people screwed up.
Wisdom is also useful. Eventually the youngsters will be the elders and they'll get the scorn of the new youngsters.
ismnotwasm
(41,998 posts)Same thing with the many computer programs that come out. Our hospital will transition from ORCA to EPIC in a month or so. While I remember some grumbling when we transitioned to all computer charting initially from a few older workers, its pretty even now. You either get it or you dont. If you dont one of your co-workers will help you, regardless of age.
KentuckyWoman
(6,690 posts)I wanted to be accountant, not the accounting clerk. I had the same degree, and if I do say so myself better auditing talent. For one thing, whoever heard of a female accountant. Perish the thought. Second, the old farts would not retire. None of them wanted to spend all day with their wives....
Eventually I gave up and and started my own. I could, only because my husband's income gave our family enough stability for me to take a gamble. 46 years later, already in my 70's, I basically gave the business to the 8 women that worked for me.
I think about what these impatient people will look back upon at 80. With the speed of change nowadays, They'll probably be traveling to another galaxy as if it were down the street.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)GenZ will know how to use all the tech that exists now AND all the revolutionary tech that comes along later. Theyll decry their kids not knowing about gas-powered cars or desktop PCs or whatever.
Boomers were born into an age of enormous and fast change, and thus did they gain a bit of an advantage of having lived in essentially two worlds, the same way their grandparents might have been born in a sod house on a windswept prairie and found themselves in a world of jet planes and global warfare.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)how long it will be before software developers stop using an icon of a floppy disk for the "Save" function.
MineralMan
(146,325 posts)A little icon that looks like a cloud would be more apt.
TDale313
(7,820 posts)But have heard the story multiple times about a kid who finds their parent or grandparents old floppy disks and goes How cool! You 3D printed the save icon! 🙂
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)I did read one about a teacher taking her class to a library, and when she pointed to the encyclopedia set, one student remarked, "Wow, they printed the whole thing out?!!"
handmade34
(22,757 posts)appalachiablue
(41,168 posts)sakabatou
(42,170 posts)And I'm a supposed Millenial.
edhopper
(33,606 posts)pintobean
(18,101 posts)The OP is bullshit.
sakabatou
(42,170 posts)pintobean
(18,101 posts)Things change from generation to generation. We do what we need to do from the perspective of our own lives. I'm a boomer. We're no better than any other generation, but maybe a little worse than some previous generations.
sakabatou
(42,170 posts)But if they were to see a rotary phone for the first time, no computer, just the object, I wonder what they'd do.
Mariana
(14,860 posts)sakabatou
(42,170 posts)Codeine
(25,586 posts)The only problem is that there are so darned many of you that it sometimes feels like all the air gets taken out of the room for the rest of us. But thats not your fault, its just math.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Especially watching posters of all ages get their panties in a twist for whatever reason.
Collimator
(1,639 posts)A young woman staying in a quaint inn situated in a sleepy little town kept trying to push at the finger holes on a rotary dial.
BTW, some mobile phones still use the squat rotary/dial phone as the icon for landline telephone numbers.
Other odd holdovers that I sometimes see are analog clock and hourglass icons. On the other hand, I am probably working with relatively old technology.
Another point--I don't have any particular problem with Millennials. Some of them are remarkable people and some are stupid assholes--just like I remember the kids in my high school were.
edhopper
(33,606 posts)just that many seem to be indifferent to history.
The phone here is an analogy.
BlueStater
(7,596 posts)Do you know how to use a telegraph machine?
My Morse Code is very rusty, but with a little recap and studying, I could.
MineralMan
(146,325 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,728 posts)It took me forever the pass the ham test. I was/am hard of hearing and could handle the clicks from the telegraph but not the tones from an oscillator.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)My dad was cool about stuff like that.
Learned the aviation phonetic alphabet too, never forgot it lol.
dweller
(23,651 posts)i do, i remember the first 2 digits being a word, followed by 5 digits
later it was all 7 #'s
later when i was on my own and had many other phone #'s, those i don't remember so well, maybe 1...
✌🏼
MineralMan
(146,325 posts)If someone wanted to call my house back then, they picked up their telephone handset and waited until the operator said, "Number please." Then, they said "86, please." The operator plugged a cord into a hole and pushed the ringer button. My home town in California did not get dial phones until 1963.
lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)Along with letters and special characters.
hlthe2b
(102,342 posts)(never replicated, but stores all my other passwords).
I used it, though because, like me, my sister will never forget it either, so she will be able to get into anything she needs to, should something happen to me.
dweller
(23,651 posts)my point was about never forgetting that 1st #
so using it for password is smart
✌🏼
cwydro
(51,308 posts)I remember my childhood phone number too.
OliverQ
(3,363 posts)and how to use it. My grandmother had one.
Bettie
(16,120 posts)or even any of our lives anymore.
But, I have no doubt that if push came to shove, any one of them could figure it out.
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)things would become relevant if our ability to produce power would be lost.
Bettie
(16,120 posts)I know how to do a lot of things that don't require power. I don't like doing them that way, but I can.
But, using a rotary phone as a way to mock millennials as "useless" is foolish and mean spirited.
What next? "The music these kids today listen to, why in MY day..."
DangerousRhythm
(2,916 posts)I am Gen X and I feel like this sort of thing is not helpful. YMMV, though.
Bettie
(16,120 posts)The best thing about being forgotten is that no one mocks us for our perceived shortcomings...we're invisible.
DangerousRhythm
(2,916 posts)I guess were too old to smear as slackers anymore.
mathematic
(1,439 posts)Oldest ones are going to be 40 next year.
The OK boomer meme was invented by gen Z, who are the under 25 year olds.
demmiblue
(36,875 posts)edhopper
(33,606 posts)I just can't keep my generations straight.
vercetti2021
(10,156 posts)Jesus we're not that young. Gen Z more likely isn't gonna know what that is.
hunter
(38,325 posts)All the neighboring ranches shared one phone line that eventually made it's way to town.
You'd turn the crank and all the phones on the line would ring.
Each party had their own distinctive pattern of rings, as did the operator many miles away.
No calls were private. Any neighbor could listen in.
If we called my great grandma from California all her neighbors would know about it. I'm certain there were a few busybody neighbors who would listen in.
My great grandma really didn't have any use for telephones or rural electrification. It was her husband, and later her children, who'd inflicted those tools of the devil upon her. She didn't have indoor plumbing either.
When we visited her house children were not allowed to touch either the telephone or the two electric light switches in her house.
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)I can just imagine her conversations that her neighbors heard: "I don't like talking on this devil machine"
LuvNewcastle
(16,855 posts)She lived in a very old wooden house without most of the conveniences we take for granted today. She did have plumbing. Anyway, she wouldn't move into the new house even though it was right next door to the old house. So it sat there vacant for all those years and she let her guineas walk around in the yard around it. Strangest thing.
tirebiter
(2,538 posts)They dont need to be charged. After.the earth quake of 89 I went to where I worked for the city of Santa Cruz and I was getting calls from around the world from people offering help. I was in one of 2 buildings still standing. Cell phones are not radios and that is going to surprise people who should know better.
enid602
(8,644 posts)Ill never forget our number: FRontier 64163. FR was the cool exchange.
kimbutgar
(21,177 posts)Stuart G
(38,439 posts)I can dial anybody that a push button phone can reach. The system is the same.
Oh, it isn't black, but white. They were all made in the U.S.A. (not anymore)
Codeine
(25,586 posts)Not a good look, guys.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,376 posts)edhopper
(33,606 posts)and Giffies are great.
IronLionZion
(45,514 posts)Here's some good boomer whining:
How millennials have killed the Manhattan power lunch
https://nypost.com/2019/10/26/how-millennials-have-killed-the-manhattan-power-lunch/
Damn Millennials are into avocado and kale, not steak and potatoes!
And then Trump supporters are sure beyond a reasonable doubt that millennials eat Tide pods.
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)I think we did that...LOL
We have never purchased napkins. Paper towels do the same thing...why buy more paper products?
Captain Stern
(2,201 posts)I'm old, and I have the power to recognize other old people by their posts.
And, that's pretty much everybody that's posted in this thread.
No Millineals or Gen Zers will ever be offended by this thread, because none of them are ever going to see it.
IronLionZion
(45,514 posts)I like keeping some old timey looking stuff around because it's looks cool. My office even has a room with a record player, and people bring in vinyl records to listen because that's become cool again.
Captain Stern
(2,201 posts)First time since the mid eighties.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Some of the responses here are beyond hilarious.
People are so easily insulted.
And anyway, isnt the average age of DU posters like 70 something?
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)When I knew growing up what this was and how I would use it,
even though I never saw one in person.
TNNurse
(6,929 posts)It was taken the day they switched from the old crank wall phone to the new desk kind. He is on the old and I am on the new. I was about 4 ( I am now 70). The picture was used in the little flyer that used to come with your phone bill. This was in Duluth GA when it was a small town before Atlanta swallowed it.
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)Needed an explanation on how to pronounce, "Meme".
Was it pronounced, "Me-me?" (I had to ask my kid)
IronLionZion
(45,514 posts)My grandparents had the rotary style phone so I was familiar with how to use it. But I'm an Xennial or the first of the millennials. We also had to book international calls and get an appointment time to make the call. And things would get really frustrating if the person you called wasn't home because there was no answering machine back then.
Now that it's easier to make calls, I'm not so sure it's better. I get a lot of scam calls with spoofed caller IDs that I really don't want. That's why my generation will text/Skype a person before calling them, to make sure they answer the damn phone if the number is not saved in their contacts. Even then people at work have Skyped me their cell number to call, and then not answer because they didn't know my cell number.
edhopper
(33,606 posts)I have no problem with modern communication. It is understanding the past that concerns me.
IronLionZion
(45,514 posts)There are definitely some things in the past I'd like to bring back, like affordable college, high tax rates on the super wealthy, good hippie music, more natural foods from family farms, welcoming immigration, vinyl records, and so on.
And there are plenty of things that need to stay in the past and never come back, like Nazis and segregation.
If you want it badly enough, Amazon sells rotary phones and antique wall phones with a crank design that will work on modern phone networks.
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)He won't answer his phone. (He gives out his cell number)
BuffaloJackalope
(818 posts)It was NIAgara 1423 that you called
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)I accidentally rented one at an airport, but I couldn't get the thing to move. So, I returned it.
I'm a boomer.
edhopper
(33,606 posts)that could explain it.
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)Back when it was one of the best states for education
edhopper
(33,606 posts)but I have no problem with tech. It is pretty user friendly.
IronLionZion
(45,514 posts)I deliberately learned how to drive stick shift and currently have a stick shift car. People of my generation might have a difficult time renting a car overseas, where it is mostly stick shift, if they don't know how to use it.
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)I don't know if I'll rent one again.
If hybrids become mainstay or I buy one. I'll learn!
I also owned a manual transmission after automatic. Don't know if I would buy one again, but I learned!
misanthrope
(7,421 posts)Some domestic autos in the 1960s had them.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,879 posts)I personally won't consider driving an automatic. Not voluntarily. It's why I hate renting a car.
Every time I'm buying a car, the salesmen are astonished, because most of them can't drive a stick themselves and none of their mothers ever did.
IronLionZion
(45,514 posts)My mom learned to drive in the US, where it is mostly automatic. The rest of the world it is mostly stick.
It's a good thing to know because you save money when buying a car, or renting overseas, and you can save money on fuel because you won't have a torque converter and have control over which gear you're in so you could keep it in high gear to keep your rpm low.
And with many sporty cars, manual transmissions are more fun to drive.
Here's a 2020 contender who knows how to drive stick:
misanthrope
(7,421 posts)If you had a smart phone, it's likely you could have found an online PDF of it.
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)I had flown in for a weekend to visit family. (One of my cousins recently moved there and they had a get together) It was in the foothills of the Appalachians. I'm too accident prone...LOL
If it was in my neighborhood, maybe, but not somewhere that I was not familiar with.
Buns_of_Fire
(17,191 posts)edhopper
(33,606 posts)at current tech. I also knew what past generations used.
Or do you think knowledge of what went before is useless?
Buns_of_Fire
(17,191 posts)The whole thing just reminded me of Phil Hartman on SNL.
edhopper
(33,606 posts)I'll give you that.
AllaN01Bear
(18,348 posts)ready to go when the power goes out. Wont work if u got comcast . dosent help also if the phone co dosent charge the local office batts . hem learned a lesson a long time ago. dont rely on cordless phones only as they require the user to plug the base station into the ac outlet as well as the phone , now , on the other hand ive never seen a magneto,voice powered,( current and old sailors will know what i am talking about ) phone in person , except in photos . my late mom used one when she was a younger person.aunt bee call the sherrif please . how many of you remember prefix dialing . or victor 999.?
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Blue_Adept
(6,400 posts)Growing up in the late 70s and early 80s all that I had ever seen were push-button phones. I never had the rotary phones.
And even back then I had relatives playing this bullshit game
"oh, I'm just being cute, this might be useful one day."
No, it's just more of the same age/generational warfare bullshit that's been going on with DU since it first went online.
In a world of almost eight fucking billion people, there will be a lot of people that know a lot of shit others don't in all directions.
This does NOT make you superior.
It makes you like childish and weak.
It's why the whole ok boomer thing took root so damn quick.
Goddamn it's why i keep coming back here less and less even after being here since practically day one.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)FTW
DangerousRhythm
(2,916 posts)This sort of thing just isn't helpful and we were also mocked by Boomers in the 90s, with all sorts of "slacker" and "lazy" bullshit thrown at us. No thanks to all of this. If rotary phones came back into fashion, how many seconds do you think it'd take for some Gen Z kid to learn how to dial a number? Come on, now. They're not idiots.
jcgoldie
(11,639 posts)Told some kid last week to put away her telephone and pay attention. The class laughed uproariously... you would have though I called a calculator an abacus. That shit doesnt bother me at all playing up the generational differences is good fun and a chance to lighten things up in math class when some kids may not have been having much fun.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)the reason is that theyve never seen one being used. The rest of us are either old enough to have used a rotary phone (like myself) or saw one being used on TV (like my wife.)
My kids have never seen a rotary phone and neither of them watch television. Theyre living in the age of YouTube and streaming, where they curate their own entertainment and thus are often not exposed to things we once were. Its different, its a cultural shift, and it feels weird to my old brain, but Im not sure Im prepared to decry it or proclaim it bad simply because it doesnt reflect my own prejudices and experiences.
After all, theyre growing up in an environment where being gay is a non-issue, where trans acceptance is becoming the norm, and where progressive thought is finally being taken with some seriousness. Ill trade rotary phones and stick shifts for that any day. The world keeps on turnin.
edhopper
(33,606 posts)I still bemoan their lack of awareness of things past.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)Turns out she knows exactly how they work from watching Hitchcock movies with me. I had completely forgotten about that. Old movies for the win!
edhopper
(33,606 posts)Great to hear she watches them.
Mariana
(14,860 posts)They deserve to be ridiculed because of it.
Captain Zero
(6,823 posts)That's how I knew. I grew up with the first one.
area51
(11,919 posts)LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)I'm sure I'm behind the times...
Us old people don't like Latinx, but young people are OK with it.
BumRushDaShow
(129,364 posts)the school had one of these old-style switchboards -
And students could volunteer during a study period to work in the main school office (like I did) answering incoming calls to the school and then transferring them (via a cord) to the teacher in the classroom or to whoever (principal, nurse, etc). Would tell the incoming party to "hold", would then ring the recipient to let them know a call was incoming, and would then connect that incoming party to the recipient's phone in their classroom or office. That was certainly an experience!!
Mariana
(14,860 posts)Polybius
(15,467 posts)Two generations behind shouldn't be expected to know. I'm an Xer, and I have no idea what that even is, as I have never seen one.
Hence, a Millennial might know what a rotary phone is, but it's silly to expect someone born in 2009 to know.
OhioBlue
(5,126 posts)1.) They have never been taught nor exposed to and 2.) have never had a need to learn?
My gen Z kid knows what a rotary phone is, but I doubt he could successfully dial one on his first try. Once someone showed him how to dial it, he would have no problem dialing a number. If nobody showed him and he had a serious need to dial that phone, he would pull up a youtube video and figure out how to dial it. And, it isn't because he has a lack of appreciation for history or previous generations. He does. It is just that the only rotary phone he has probably ever seen was at the "Christmas Story" house and it wasn't even operational.
Edit to add: Also - plenty of gen z and y kids/adults kindly put up with my gen x phrasing/vocab when I tell them to "hang up the phone" on a cell phone instead of telling them to "end the call" or I tell them to "hit return" on the keyboard instead of "enter".
Mariana
(14,860 posts)to feel superior to younger people. Pointing out some function that most younger people don't know how to perform is a pretty easy way they can do that. It matters not if the skill is now useless, so there is absolutely no reason for the young people to have learned it.
KentuckyWoman
(6,690 posts)In 1966 Bell came through the neighborhood and took these phones out and gave us the rotary one with the numbers. We paid 84 cents a month to rent the phone in addition to service. Calling the next town over was long distance.
Edit to add it was a party line with 4 people. You couldn't make or receive calls if the other people on your party line refused to hang up.
Our house was "newer". It was built in the 40's with an alcove for the phone in the wall near the kitchen.
JHB
(37,161 posts)This is from 2014, 5 years ago.
applegrove
(118,758 posts)Last edited Sun Nov 10, 2019, 03:53 PM - Edit history (1)
to places you want to work and sending them your resume. The hidden job market. She said how? I said look through the telephone book. She said what is a telephone book? Smart girl. She had me. I'm a dino.
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)Nowadays businesses don't advertise in the yellow pages and less and less homes have landlines. The phonebook is becoming obsolete.
applegrove
(118,758 posts)i am.
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)Time flies and it's so easy to forget about something that was so ubiquitous that it was overlooked.
Beartracks
(12,821 posts)========
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)Ինչու ենք ուրախացնում երիտասարդներին:
Գուցե մենք պետք է զվարճացնենք այն մարդկանցից, ովքեր չեն կարողանում հայերեն կարդալ:
_____________________
Maybe we should make fun of people who can't read Armenian??? My grandparents could read it.
Mike Nelson
(9,964 posts)... they've never seen an old TV show or gone to the movies? No streaming on their mobile phone? Some people are very sheltered... I watched too much TV and knew rotary phones and sundials. Also knew what a hitching post was... what a horseshoe looked like... westerns were popular!
muriel_volestrangler
(101,354 posts)It's part-British (the emergency numbers are in the old British style, and say '999'), but the letters are given their American phone values - the letter 'O' is on the '6', not the zero (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_dial#Letters - but notice those are not the modern mobile phone values of 7=PQRS etc.). It also has '#' and '*' holes (which would screw anyone who was used to the advice "to dial 999, find the last hole, and move back one from it" .
A real British dial:
pansypoo53219
(20,987 posts)alphafemale
(18,497 posts)As seen here they are hopelessly oversensitive if anyone points put their faults.
Maxheader
(4,373 posts)1950s...Could pick up the ear piece and hear others talking...which got me a whippin if I got caught...
In the 60s, when phones became more modern, people used to take the old crank jobs out to the
rivers...rig a couple wires to the phone, crank it up and stun catfish...they'd rise to the surface and make easy
pickins....
Tarc
(10,476 posts)One "Watch young kids interact with a rotary phone!" video on youtube, and the oldsters think it applies to everyone.
Same with the "Cinnamon Challenge" or "Eating Tide Pods", they're kinda tired of the broad brush of being stupid or self-absorbed, and are lashing back at you.
I am a happily-in-the-middle Gen X'er; we'll just sit in our faded Nirvana t-shirts and watch you two pummel each other.
hlthe2b
(102,342 posts)You point to the tide pod and cinnamon challenge as though that is not something those younger adults should have known better than to engage in and not just the youngest among them. Contempt for knowledge or immersion in the superficial is not just silly, but detrimental. So, you laugh when other generations point that out as though it is just inter-generational rivalry or insults, but that is a very foolish take, IMO.
Three words: Gender Reveal Party
Sometimes a little historical knowledge of the risk from unintentional pipe bombs you thought would blow out your pink or blue smoke, the risks from flying planes too low to puff your colored smoke and the wildfire risks from shooting colored targets in a drought-stricken brush area, is good to know. Even if you and all around are only interested in one-upping each other's gender reveal stunt and grew up watching and emulating "Jackass"
Ditto the recent horrific tragedy of fast-food workers who never learned to read bottle labels and were thus clueless about the risks from mixing chlorine bleach with ammonia.
No, there is a reason parents have long forced kids to learn and not merely about what Kanye is up to or when the next video game comes out. And, no, I'm not a foe of video games. The eye-hand coordination alone that it imparts is a very useful skill.
But lest you think I put all Millenials, Gen-Xers, and Gen-Zers in that category, I do NOT. The Parkland School Activists, the climate change movement led by Greta Thunberg, and others, the clean water activists led by Native American, Autumn Peltier, Flint resident, Mara Copeny and others give me great hope. But, guess what? All of these younger activists understand the importance of learning from those who came before--to respect the power of knowing the history. I celebrate the younger generations who are figuring it out and not merely engaged in denying all that came before--including the knowledge gained, both the good and the bad. Yes, they are being handed a raw deal in many cases--replete with a lot of bad decisions that they will have to address. I hope they don't repeat those mistakes and turn to those who actually care enough to learn from them. Maybe, just maybe those who point this out to them, actually care about their future and ability to succeed in it.
DangerousRhythm
(2,916 posts)It was already going out of style in the 80s. People I knew mostly had touchtone. Apples autocorrect even tried to change that to touchstone, thats how far away from it we are now. 😂 Why should kids two generations from ME be mocked for not knowing what some ancient piece of technology is? And, really, at this point rotary IS ancient as it was introduced in 1904. Its nearly 2020 and life moves on. Its just not very helpful, IMO.
Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)or were in higher income brackets than most people in the country. This post has a sense of self-entitlement that's typical of this group.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)This thread is very revealing in so many ways.
Ive been chuckling over it every time I check in.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)Errr. . . typed, I guess. Whatever.