How is it Gen Zers don't know what this is

[edhopper]

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]

1. Remember when a ringing phone was kind of exciting? nt

[edhopper]

2. And we had to be short when it was

"long distance".

[Laffy Kat]

3. Yep! I miss those days. nt

[okieinpain]

4. Lmao, I have forgotten

About long distance.

[MyOwnPeace]

5. And..........

*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]

172. You have a collect call from "Mom,come pick me up at School"

[MyOwnPeace]

194. When I was in college (60's)

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]

11. Altho you could save money by calling in the evening

But then I also remember having a party line.


Waiting for the "Ok, Boomer" post to hit

[tblue37]

40. Also remember when instead of numbers as the first 2 parts of a phone number, we had letters? nt

[Ohiogal]

46. I still remember our "old" number

FRanklin4-9383

[MineralMan]

59. Ours was just 86.

We didn't have dial phones until 1963.

[Grammy23]

81. FLeetwood-20498

[MyOwnPeace]

195. 3991-J

[Maeve]

124. GR4--GRanite 4, for Circleville

Oh, yeah

[tblue37]

125. Remember the Liz Taylor movie "BUtterfield 8"? nt

[Backseat Driver]

146. KEnmore1-XXXX - Mom's 90 now and has the same number and a black rotary phone.

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]

185. Pennsylvania six, five OOO

&list=RDQAa12XKTb9U&index=4

[LeftInTX]

186. Numbers and letters were the same thing

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]

187. In 1962, there were protests against the all numerics!

When Bell System executives grandly announced that all telephone exchange names would soon be replaced by seven-digit numbers in the name of progress they presupposed the blind acceptance of a benumbed and be-numbered public. They were wrong: the telephone company is now facing a minor rebellion. In San Francisco last week the Anti-Digit Dialing League was incorporated to oppose "creeping numeralism." And an anti-digit patriot in Santa Rosa, unwilling to surrender one more word for three more numbers, cried: "Give me LIberty or take the blinking phone out."..
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,827416,00.html

Sounds too familiar.......

[tblue37]

34. Remember when long distance reception was so weak that everyone in the house

had to stay quiet so you could hear?

And remember sharing a party line?

[Laffy Kat]

93. Kind of like the cell phones of today, eh?

What a long way we've come.

[Codeine]

150. Remember long distance, period?

Getting rid of that has been a wonderful element of mobile phones.

[Baitball Blogger]

152. And if it was really long distance you had to shout so loud that everyone

in the dorm hall can hear your conversation?

[TheBlackAdder]

29. Remember when calling your relative two miles away was a long distance toll charge?

[Ohiogal]

48. THAT one

Was particularly maddening!

[TheBlackAdder]

54. If you went through a different Exchange or Central Office. Sometimes neighbors across the street.

[Demovictory9]

88. because there was no answering machine! had to pick it up or not know who called

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. Millennials definitely know what that is.

[edhopper]

7. Not how to use it.

Seen it with my nieces.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. So a better question would be, "Why don't my nieces know how to use this?"

[edhopper]

23. You think they are the only ones?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

30. So a better question might be, why do some millennials know how to

use a rotary phone, and some don’t?

[mucifer]

64. Some have watched old movies?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

76. That is certainly a possibility.

[JonLP24]

155. We're not that young

Those kind of phones were still around when I was young. I even had a black and white TV as a kid.

[Crunchy Frog]

151. The oldest millennials are pushing 40, and likely grew up with them.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

153. Yeah this was a rhetorical question to get the OP to think about what he was saying.

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. We were on a party line.

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]

18. Our first phone was a ten-party line

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]

10. Willful ignorance. I knew of at least some of the Big Bands of the 40's and the

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]

13. I was at a work meeting and my Gen X boss had a slide with a picture of Led Zeppelin on it

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]

14. Did they?

[ismnotwasm]

53. Nope.

They shook their heads slightly at me, or just looked blank. I didn’t pursue it

[CaptYossarian]

92. I was wearing my Three Stooges t-shirt and my younger daughter's boyfriend

(18 years old) looked and said, "I feel I should know those guys."

I had no response.

[Codeine]

132. Hopefully you poked her in both eyes at once

and then ran in circles making “whoop whoop whoop” sounds?

[Rorey]

193. LOL

You almost made me wake up the whole house with that.

[CaptYossarian]

220. That would've generated "crickets".

[brush]

16. How about dial-up modems, or even AOL?

Both not that long ago.

[hlthe2b]

21. yup...definitely

[Codeine]

133. A sound one never forgets. nt

[brush]

135. Yeah, that fizzle and popping and crackle sound...almost like...

Rice Krispies, another thing Gen Zers know little about

[MyOwnPeace]

197. Years ago

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]

206. The alternate dial in numbers that were long distance, but it was a busy night......

Yeah, I discovered my daughter hacking into my AOL account when she was 12 when I got a $600 phone bill.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

57. I know what that last thing is: A ballpoint pen.

Fountain pens mystify me. Messy magic.



I like the "Millennial anti-theft device for cars:

[hlthe2b]

60. As long as you can use some kind of pen to write in cursive, I'm great!

[appalachiablue]

112. Wax cylinder music records, real old! I learned from a hst museum:

[MyOwnPeace]

196. And many.....

can't read cursive writing!!!!!!

[ismnotwasm]

12. Millennials think it's funny that boomers bring shit like this up

Why should they care?

[edhopper]

24. because knowing about the past

is actually important.

[TDale313]

38. Not how to use a rotary phone.

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 won’t necessarily be able to real older documents. How to dial a phone they’re never gonna have to use? Not so much. They know tech they actually use way better than we GenXers or Boomers do.

[edhopper]

41. Not sure about that

They know apps, but many don't understand the tech.

[lastlib]

198. "Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic."

--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]

63. Millenials were taught cursive handwriting.

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]

134. My GenZ kids were both taught cursive.

One uses it and has beautiful script, one refuses utterly. Their teachers don’t 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 that’s an indecipherable mess at the best of times.

[demmiblue]

215. I think most schools still teach cursive...

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]

77. The whole "older document" thing is a red herring.

I mean, not many people can read this:



Styles of writing change.

[Mariana]

159. Which older documents?

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]

56. I know nothing about telegraphs.

I know they were very important, that they existed, but I wouldn’t know how to use one.

[Mariana]

157. Knowing how to dial a rotary phone is important?

Pray tell us what negative consequences you expect them to incur from their inability to perform this particular skill.

[brooklynite]

15. How many of you wash your clothes on a rock in the stream?

[edhopper]

26. It's not doing it

it's understanding how it was done.

I know what this is:

[Harker]

33. Try not to be condescending.

We all know what a butter churn looks like.

[edhopper]

43. ROFL

[KentuckyWoman]

174. Duzy

[jberryhill]

65. The days before battery operated sex toys were interesting

[edhopper]

80. another winner!

[Codeine]

137. You mean butter churns, right?

As dual-purpose a device as I’ve ever seen.

[IronLionZion]

111. I actually have done that

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]

136. The river silt gets caught in the seams of my yoga pants. nt

[Doc_Technical]

17. Give me a ring on the "Ameche"

A.G.B.

[edhopper]

28. Only if Henry Fonda

is on the other end.

[demmiblue]

19. 1) Of course they know what it is, 2) because they haven't used one.

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]

20. So your continual mocking is OK

One minor hit back makes you rabid raccoons.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

27. When a boomer says, "how is it millennial don't know..."

What they’re really verbalizing is at least one of these thoughts:

* When did I get so old?
* How did this change happen so quickly?
* I don’t understand some things; can I use this metaphor to remind myself that I do know some things?

And it’s 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]

35. Read MM's reply #22

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]

67. Can you send a telegraph or store a 50lb block of ice to keep food cold.

Stop bragging about dinosaur skills.

[edhopper]

82. Yes to both,

But I would need time to review my very rusty Morse Code.

[hlthe2b]

204. I could too (I have an old morse code manual of my Dad's) and I know how to build an icehouse

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]

205. That is my concern as well

knowing how to use an app does not mean they understand technology.

[rickyhall]

105. The millenials indifference to it. My grand kids (12-23) have no interest.

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]

140. That isn't a generational thing

it’s a personality thing. For every kid like yourself who wanted to hear grandpa talk about France in 1944 there were fifty kids who didn’t. That’s normal; most people aren’t 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 isn’t into history is probably the smarter of the two. People are engaged by different things.

[brush]

130. You're forgetting something. Boomers like Gates and Jobs...

invented/oversaw much tech that many take for granted.

[MineralMan]

22. Boomers know how to use rotary dial phones AND smart phones.

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]

36. Well said

[ismnotwasm]

62. While I agree with you

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 aren’t getting credit for being as productive as they are.

I see a lot of “growing up in the 90’s” memes, the same way boomers might use the 50’s or 60’s.

People are people are people

[MineralMan]

66. That's true, and I'm being facetious, really.

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]

70. Ha!

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, it’s pretty even now. You either “get” it or you don’t. If you don’t one of your co-workers will help you, regardless of age.

[KentuckyWoman]

175. I was impatient too....

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]

147. And to be fair

GenZ will know how to use all the tech that exists now AND all the revolutionary tech that comes along later. They’ll 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. I'm wondering

how long it will be before software developers stop using an icon of a floppy disk for the "Save" function.

[MineralMan]

31. That's an excellent question.

A little icon that looks like a cloud would be more apt.

[TDale313]

44. Probably an urban legend...

But have heard the story multiple times about a kid who finds their parent or grandparent’s old floppy disks and goes “How cool! You 3D printed the save icon!” 🙂

[customerserviceguy]

49. Now, that's funny!

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]

108. was there a card catalog involved?

[appalachiablue]

110. tx, so funny

[sakabatou]

32. I know what that is

And I'm a supposed Millenial.

[edhopper]

37. You must be one of the good ones

[pintobean]

50. Most do.

The OP is bullshit.

[sakabatou]

73. It's probably Gen Z that doesn't know what rotary phones are

[pintobean]

109. The info is at our fingertips all the time these days

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]

120. True, they can get at the info

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]

163. What did you do, the first time you saw one? nt.

[sakabatou]

164. Watched someone use it

[Codeine]

144. Boomers are cool.

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 that’s not your fault, it’s just math.

[cwydro]

208. I think this whole thread is hilarious.

Especially watching posters of all ages get their panties in a twist for whatever reason.

[Collimator]

39. In the movie, "In and Out"--

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]

47. I don't have a problem with millenials

just that many seem to be indifferent to history.
The phone here is an analogy.

[BlueStater]

42. Why do they have to?

Do you know how to use a telegraph machine?

[edhopper]

45. Yes

My Morse Code is very rusty, but with a little recap and studying, I could.

[MineralMan]

55. I do. I learned Morse code when I was 12.

[LiberalArkie]

106. I think I learned before then from a telegrapher at the railroad station down the block from me.

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]

212. I learned it around then too.

My dad was cool about stuff like that.

Learned the aviation phonetic alphabet too, never forgot it lol.

[dweller]

51. how many of you remember your 1st phone #

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]

58. I do. The number was 86.

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]

83. I use it as a password some times.

Along with letters and special characters.

[hlthe2b]

209. I DO. I won't list it because it is part of my single MASTER password

(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]

210. yeh that makes sense

my point was about never forgetting that 1st #
so using it for password is smart

✌🏼

[cwydro]

213. That's a great idea.

I remember my childhood phone number too.

[OliverQ]

52. I'm a Millennial and I know what a rotary phone is

and how to use it. My grandmother had one.

[Bettie]

61. It isn't relevant in their lives

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]

90. I wonder how quickly some of the old

things would become relevant if our ability to produce power would be lost.

[Bettie]

126. People would then pick them up again

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]

158. Exactly.

I am Gen X and I feel like this sort of thing is not helpful. YMMV, though.

[Bettie]

167. I'm Gen X too

The best thing about being forgotten is that no one mocks us for our perceived shortcomings...we're invisible.

[DangerousRhythm]

217. Ha, pretty much.

I guess we’re too old to smear as slackers anymore.

[mathematic]

68. Exactly how old do you think millennials are?

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]

71. This. n/t

[edhopper]

84. Dang nab it

I just can't keep my generations straight.

[vercetti2021]

69. I know what that is

Jesus we're not that young. Gen Z more likely isn't gonna know what that is.

[hunter]

72. My great grandma had a wooden phone like that.

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]

188. OMG!! ROFL!!

I can just imagine her conversations that her neighbors heard: "I don't like talking on this devil machine"

[LuvNewcastle]

203. One of my cousins built a new brick house for my great-aunt.

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]

74. Thing is this model phone is important in a crisis

They don’t 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]

75. Number

I’ll never forget our number: FRontier 64163. FR was the cool exchange.

[kimbutgar]

78. I brought a toy phone to my substitute teaching job once and none of the kids knew what it was.

[Stuart G]

79. I got one of those "dial phones" in my kitchen right now..and ...Yes, it works!!!

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]

85. OldPeopleWhiningUnderground.com

Not a good look, guys.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

89. .

[A HERETIC I AM]

94. ....

[demmiblue]

96. .

[edhopper]

99. These Me-Mes

and Giffies are great.

[IronLionZion]

102. ROFL!

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]

181. I heard on NPR that millennials were killing paper napkins

I think we did that...LOL
We have never purchased napkins. Paper towels do the same thing...why buy more paper products?

[Captain Stern]

113. That's pretty much it. We are what we are.

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]

119. Millennial checking in and not offended by a boomer talking about rotary phones

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]

184. I read somewhere that this year vinyl records will outsell CD's.

First time since the mid eighties.

[cwydro]

214. I think it's funny as hell!

Some of the responses here are beyond hilarious.

People are so easily insulted.

And anyway, isn’t the average age of DU posters like 70 something?

[left-of-center2012]

87. You saw it on TV

When I knew growing up what this was and how I would use it,
even though I never saw one in person.

[TNNurse]

91. One of my treasures is a photo of my grandfather and me.

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]

95. Why does this boomer not know how to use SnapChat or snapfilters?

Needed an explanation on how to pronounce, "Meme".

Was it pronounced, "Me-me?" (I had to ask my kid)

[IronLionZion]

97. OK Boomer

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]

100. I am not a luddite

I have no problem with modern communication. It is understanding the past that concerns me.

[IronLionZion]

107. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

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]

104. My state senator requires texts before calling

He won't answer his phone. (He gives out his cell number)

[BuffaloJackalope]

98. And exchanges having names

It was NIAgara 1423 that you called

[LeftInTX]

101. Why couldn't I figure out how to drive a hybrid?

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]

103. Did you go to school in Texas?

that could explain it.

[LeftInTX]

115. I went to school in Wisconsin

Back when it was one of the best states for education

[edhopper]

116. Just kidding

but I have no problem with tech. It is pretty user friendly.

[IronLionZion]

114. If it's an automatic, just put it in Drive

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]

117. Oh yeah...it also had a push button shift

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]

170. Push button shifts are old

Some domestic autos in the 1960s had them.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

145. I am 71, and I drive a stick shift.

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]

148. My grandmother drove a stick shift but my mom never learned how

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]

169. Did you look in the glove compartment to see if there was an owners manual?

If you had a smart phone, it's likely you could have found an online PDF of it.

[LeftInTX]

178. I wasn't going to experiment driving a new type of vehicle while driving alone in rural TN

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]

118. These new technologies confuse and frighten Unfrozen Caveman Programmer. nt

[edhopper]

121. I am more than adept

at current tech. I also knew what past generations used.

Or do you think knowledge of what went before is useless?

[Buns_of_Fire]

123. Not at all. I have feet firmly planted in both worlds.

The whole thing just reminded me of Phil Hartman on SNL.

[edhopper]

138. Ok

I'll give you that.

[AllaN01Bear]

122. Im not gen x er, but i have one sitting on the telephone stand behind me

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.?

&app=desktop

&app=desktop

[Blue_Adept]

127. I'm 48 and heard this same bullshit in the 90s

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]

128. Mic drop. nt

[stevil]

149. Gen X

FTW

[DangerousRhythm]

160. I'm just a few years younger than you, and I feel similarly.

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]

129. I teach HS math

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 doesn’t 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]

131. But in all seriousness

the reason is that they’ve 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. They’re 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. It’s different, it’s a cultural shift, and it feels weird to my old brain, but I’m not sure I’m prepared to decry it or proclaim it bad simply because it doesn’t reflect my own prejudices and experiences.

After all, they’re 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. I’ll trade rotary phones and stick shifts for that any day. The world keeps on turnin’.

[edhopper]

139. You make a good point

I still bemoan their lack of awareness of things past.

[Codeine]

142. I just now asked my daughter about rotary phones.

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]

143. That warms me a little

Great to hear she watches them.

[Mariana]

162. No no no! It's because they're lazy and stupid!

They deserve to be ridiculed because of it.

[Captain Zero]

141. everybody who has ever watched LASSIE tv show knows how to work the second one.

That's how I knew. I grew up with the first one.

[area51]

154. "How to dial a phone"

[LeftInTX]

156. I'm a boomer and never heard of Latinx until 2017

I'm sure I'm behind the times...

Us old people don't like Latinx, but young people are OK with it.

[BumRushDaShow]

161. I remember in high school in the '70s

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]

165. They should have been forced to watch more TV. nt.

[Polybius]

166. As a Boomer, you were just one generation behind that second phone on the bottom

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]

168. Another question is why do we expect children to know how to do something that

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]

221. Some older people seem to have a desperate need

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]

171. Ours looked like this until 1966

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]

173. This seems appropriate...

This is from 2014, 5 years ago.

&t=233s

[applegrove]

176. I gave advice to a girlfriend of family to look for work by writing letters

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]

179. I haven't used a telephone book in a long time

Nowadays businesses don't advertise in the yellow pages and less and less homes have landlines. The phonebook is becoming obsolete.

[applegrove]

182. Yes i haven't used one in a decade. But i was amused at how out of touch

i am.

[LeftInTX]

183. I used one a few years ago and realized it was pretty much worthless!

Time flies and it's so easy to forget about something that was so ubiquitous that it was overlooked.

[Beartracks]

177. "OMG there's a hashtag on it? I didn't think the Internet was around 100 years ago?"

========

[LeftInTX]

180. Ուղեկցվեք

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]

189. Possibly...

... 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]

190. I'll tell you what that is - a fake rotary phone

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&quot .

A real British dial:

[pansypoo53219]

191. my grandparents had a rotary in the basement. sadly i can't use MY rotaries w/ the new 'land' line.

[alphafemale]

192. Boomers ruthlessly mocked their parents generation and Gen X, Y and Z

As seen here they are hopelessly oversensitive if anyone points put their faults.

[Maxheader]

199. Had the old one on the bottom out at the farm...

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]

200. This kind of sentiment is why the "ok boomer"meme has taken off

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]

207. Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it...

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]

218. Yep, and the rotary phone...

It was already going out of style in the 80s. People I knew mostly had touchtone. Apple’s autocorrect even tried to change that to touchstone, that’s 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. It’s nearly 2020 and life moves on. It’s just not very helpful, IMO.

[Kurt V.]

202. That's deep. :)

[Humanist_Activist]

211. My impression of this board is that its mostly white boomers who are either retired...

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]

216. How is it self-entitlement to ask a simple question?

This thread is very revealing in so many ways.

I’ve been chuckling over it every time I check in.

[Codeine]

219. Truer words were never spoken.

Errr. . . typed, I guess. Whatever.