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When I was a kid I could phone home from a pay phone. Can’t do that nowadays.

by chgs 2y ago

AStonesThrow 2y ago
Once when I was 10, 11 years old, I needed to call home from school. I had never used a payphone. I had perhaps rarely used our rotary home phone to dial out. Of course it was after school hours, and a stressful personal crisis already, and no adult was hovering nearby to explain anything. I figured out how to put in the coins and enter the number on TouchTone, (just like I'd seen on TV) but I didn't know what a dial tone or ring tone sounded like, nor a busy signal, and the line was in use at home, so indeed it was a busy signal that I patiently listened to for several minutes. I believed it was ringing and nobody was picking up. By the time I was 21 and working at my first job, I was promoted and given a cubicle with a phone on the desk. I was quite anxious that it would ring and I wouldn't know what to do with the call. I was working for an Internet provider!
nosianu 2y ago
Now I feel reminded of Monty Python' sketch "The Four Yorkshiremen" - https://youtu.be/DT1mGoLDRbc https://youtu.be/DT1mGoLDRbc Back in my day we didn't even have a phone! 1980s East Germany, many homes did not have a phone. My parents could have gotten one, their job was important enough, but they did not want to be disturbed at home so they never asked for the great privilege of having a home phone.
kelnos 2y ago
While they're at school, they can use the phone in the school's main office to call home if there's an emergency. Smartphones can be left in a locker (or somewhere else inaccessible during the school day) for use on the way to school and home if something happens.
- singleshot_ 2y ago
  It can be challenging to make your way to the school’s office once the facility has been taken over by an armed gunman, which is a great reason for kids to have comms at all times, if not one that commonly arises.
  - Dylan16807 2y ago
    In that rare situation, we do not at all need every student calling out. Why is it "a great reason"?
    - singleshot_ 2y ago
      Well, in order to have _any_ children calling out, at least one of them would have to have a phone. One great reason for not banning phones is to increase the chances that at least one student has one.
      - Dylan16807 2y ago
        We don't even have to get into how some students would still have phones, because of all the teacher and staff phones and wired phones in almost every room. Even in the shooter situation, there's no need for student phones.

When I was a kid I could phone home from a pay phone. Can’t do that nowadays.

by chgs 2y ago

When I was a kid I could phone home from a pay phone. Can’t do that nowadays.

Once when I was 10, 11 years old, I needed to call home from school. I had never used a payphone. I had perhaps rarely used our rotary home phone to dial out. Of course it was after school hours, and a stressful personal crisis already, and no adult was hovering nearby to explain anything. I figured out how to put in the coins and enter the number on TouchTone, (just like I'd seen on TV) but I didn't know what a dial tone or ring tone sounded like, nor a busy signal, and the line was in use at home, so indeed it was a busy signal that I patiently listened to for several minutes. I believed it was ringing and nobody was picking up. By the time I was 21 and working at my first job, I was promoted and given a cubicle with a phone on the desk. I was quite anxious that it would ring and I wouldn't know what to do with the call. I was working for an Internet provider!

nosianu 2y ago

Now I feel reminded of Monty Python' sketch "The Four Yorkshiremen" - https://youtu.be/DT1mGoLDRbc https://youtu.be/DT1mGoLDRbc Back in my day we didn't even have a phone! 1980s East Germany, many homes did not have a phone. My parents could have gotten one, their job was important enough, but they did not want to be disturbed at home so they never asked for the great privilege of having a home phone.

kelnos 2y ago

While they're at school, they can use the phone in the school's main office to call home if there's an emergency. Smartphones can be left in a locker (or somewhere else inaccessible during the school day) for use on the way to school and home if something happens.

singleshot_ 2y ago
It can be challenging to make your way to the school’s office once the facility has been taken over by an armed gunman, which is a great reason for kids to have comms at all times, if not one that commonly arises.
- Dylan16807 2y ago
  In that rare situation, we do not at all need every student calling out. Why is it "a great reason"?
  - singleshot_ 2y ago
    Well, in order to have _any_ children calling out, at least one of them would have to have a phone. One great reason for not banning phones is to increase the chances that at least one student has one.
    - Dylan16807 2y ago
      We don't even have to get into how some students would still have phones, because of all the teacher and staff phones and wired phones in almost every room. Even in the shooter situation, there's no need for student phones.