New Technology World

I, Abby Roy, feel it is my responsibility as a journalist and chronicler of events for posterity to document the end of an era.

Calm down guys, I didn’t quit, but I stopped receiving phone books, which might make me a little sad.

Context: For those under the age saved by Bell and compact discs, the telephone directory (n; archaic) was once Encyclopedia dictionary textbook A huge anthology of phone numbers that can be used as a resource for contacting friends and businesses.

At the time, sometime between Smoke Signal and TikTok, families had phones mounted on walls or on kitchen counters. If you want to get in touch with someone, you twist a code on the wall-mounted phone and he dials a seven-digit number. If I didn’t know the number, I would have had to look it up in the phone book.

So the occasional updated “Yellow Pages” arrives at your doorstep with a “car thunk” to help you order a pizza, find a plumber, or weight a corner of your rug. may be used. It curled up persistently.

But before we knew it, people started carrying mobile phones in their pockets, and the more mobile phones they put in their pockets, the smaller the phone book.

…and still came. and came. and came.

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about phone books (all 7.5 oz), but it will probably be the last.

Last week, when it arrived on my doorstep imagining the sound of a butterfly perching on a flower, I gently picked it up and flipped the page, wondering what to do. After all, some twigs were sacrificed to create these pages.

Instead, I perused.

Here are my final observations to watch for future generations:

・It is cute that “The Real Yellow Pages” (registered trademark) calls itself “The Original Search Engine” (registered trademark). This must be how those movie reels felt about “Avatar,” or how cowboys felt when they rode into the sunset.

– What do you think about the supply chain? It’s clearly not affecting local termite populations. Keep up the good fight, Vanishers of Plague. The world needs you.

– Found a business that specializes in protective pads “just like grandma”. This is information that I clearly would not have gotten otherwise, and I appreciate it.

-If you need to open the phone book to find someone to fix your computer, they will get you where you need to go. Please consult your grandchildren before sending money. I sincerely hope that the money order I sent to the Nigerian Prince did not cause any computer problems.

-It turns out there are still private detectives in the world, and you’ve been introduced to a whole new rabbit hole.

– If you dedicate a page of your publication to hacks to reduce foot odor and clean toilet bowls, it’s time to rethink the long-term sustainability of your business model. Or maybe you already have.

-Last but not least, to Cheryl, David, Michael, Pat, Judith and Gary, who make up the housing portion of my final phone book and who probably read this column in print: Kudos to you for reaching out. You remind me of a simpler time when people could only access them from within their own four walls. I will remember for the rest of my life. You’re a rock star and I think you’re amazing.

Now I’m going to take this little guy to the recycling center and put a tissue in his pocket.

continue.

Abbey Roy is a mom of three girls who lives an adventure every day. She writes to keep her own sanity. You can probably reach her at amroy@nncogannett.com, but her responses are structured around her bedtime and weekends.