Comments (33) (Please sign in to comment)

1. 

   Arch Stanton said, 6 months ago

   Kids listening to grandpa? Not likely.
2. 

   roskenwer said, 6 months ago

   our phone was on a table
3. 

   Johnny Potseed said, 6 months ago

   Well, we COULD see each other … unless we ran out of petroleum. And I could SMELL my sibling’s breaths. And mom could read my mind.
4. 

   cdward said, 6 months ago

   You mean 2015, right?
5. 

   FlyerTom said, 6 months ago

   When Bell ran everything, everybody got one phone, unless you paid additional extension charges. If you were clever enough to score another phone and hook it up, they’d know about it.
6. 

   joe piglet said, 6 months ago

   I am only 47 but when I was growing up my phone rang 1 long and 2 short. Know what I mean?
7. 

   furnituremaker said, 6 months ago

   we still had the old Bell Generator phones
8. 

   emjaycee said, 6 months ago

   @joe piglet

   heard of this, but our phone/landline never rang like that: straight ring, just like our current phones. was it some sort of messaging system?
9. 

   battle of plattsburgh said, 6 months ago

   Phone? What is Phone??
10. 

    The J.A.M. said, 6 months ago

    Odd, we got 2 extensions for our first phone….
11. 

    philyfanstukinmi said, 6 months ago

    @emjaycee

    It was called a party line. More than one family had the same number and the ring designated who the call was for.
12. 

    philyfanstukinmi said, 6 months ago

    And up until the mid nineties, my parents still had the black rotary phone.
13. 

    dapperdan61 said, 6 months ago

    Oh God I’m getting old. I could be that old codger at the ripe old age of 89. I can remember having just 1 phone for the whole house but no party line. I worked for 30 years with the phone company but my job just became more obsolete. What work is left is getting outsourced to the Phillipines.
14. 

    brightr1 said, 6 months ago

    @emjaycee

    Look up party lines. Four or five homes used the same single set of wires. Each home had a different “code” of rings so you knew if the call was for you. (And if it wasn’t you picked up the phone anyway to evesdrop.)
15. 

    Rodney said, 6 months ago

    @emjaycee

    Look up “party line”.
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