TODAY’S POLL

LAST POLL RESULTS

51.2% of you voted Haven’t used one in years in yesterday’s poll: Do you still use a phone book?

“What?”

“Don’t believe the majority of counties make these anymore.”

“We don’t receive them anymore.”

“No more, but I remember still using one in the early 2000s when my younger co-workers had already moved away from it.”

“Someone just dug out an early 2000s local entertainment newspaper at work, and we all reminisced about having to look up movie times in the paper. Sigh.”

“Who uses these? And why?”

“I haven’t used one, but my elderly customers still do. Since I moved my business four years ago, I still get customers with an old phone book calling to say, ‘Where are you? My book says you’re still at 123 Main Street, but you’re not here!’”

“Great question! Back in the day, we traveling sales folks always had a big map and a big phone book. Now your iPhone does everything. It’s convenient, but I hope it’s not making us stupider.”

“It’s just too easy to ask Siri to call whoever.”

“One instance where the technology of today is mo bettah.”

“NUMBERS ARE ONLINE. AND STORED IN MY PHONE.”

“We finally recycled our phone book a few years ago.”

“Straight to the recycling bin.”

“Good riddance!”

“I honestly didn’t know any companies still wasted money putting out phone books. Except for personal numbers, you can find just about any phone number you need online nowadays. Personal numbers can be found by asking the person for them — and occasionally online as well. My info has been sold too many times, and regardless of being on the do-not-call list, I already get too many spam calls as it is. Yikes!”

“I really did not know they were still around. I haven’t seen one for a very long time.”

“As a business owner, the Yellow Pages was a necessity — and very expensive — even if they did a beautiful layout for free. With the internet came much greater accessibility to many more people at a very reasonable price. The Yellow Pages priced themselves out of existence… imo.”

“I remember when White Pages online was FREE! 😠”

“You could find a phone number with the books. Even in the early internet days, you could get a phone number — and sometimes an address — for free. Now you can’t look up a person, or do a reverse phone search to rule out spam, without getting a gazillion ads and having to pay for something that used to be free and a public service.”

“Now everyone has a mobile/cell phone, but there’s no app or publication to find someone’s number. Social media is so full of scam-related posts that people are afraid to publish a phone number for fear of being scammed out of their money and possessions. I’d love to see the return of the phone book.”

“It was so much easier for me to look for things in an old-fashioned phone book, especially in the Yellow Pages. No typing in r e s t a u r a n t and getting listings from who knows where — you just flipped to it and could see all the local listings. Also, no spellcheck telling you what it thinks you’re searching for.”

“My grandmother was the last person I knew who used a phone book. She didn’t have internet, only cable TV.”

“My favorite century was the 20th.”

“No, I don’t own or use a phone book. I miss pre-internet life for many reasons — so much so that I chose that option, even though contact lists on your phone are something I enjoy about technology and internet advancements.”

“Still use one occasionally — not the mass-produced kind, but my mom’s handwritten one.”

“I hate looking for stuff on the internet. There’s too much AI-generated information that doesn’t help.”

“I have a landline — there’s no cell reception in the canyon where I live.”

“More than one answer applies! I haven’t used one in years, I didn’t realize they still existed, and I do miss them (though I don’t miss rotary dial).”

EXTRA CREDIT

Would you read the news if it only took 4 minutes? Yes / No

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