• @kryptonianCodeMonkey
    link
    299 months ago

    You could only program like 9 phone numbers on your phone because it only had 10 buttons for it and one of them was reserved for 911. All other numbers you either memorized, wrote down in a book or on cards, or dialed 411 to talk to a stranger whose job was to provide you with the contact information of people and businesses.

    • @Wrench
      link
      139 months ago

      I utilized my skills of tiny writing from cheatsheets to fit every phone number I knew only a folded sticky note that lived in my wallet for probably 20 years before I realized it was long past being useful.

      • @mPony
        link
        59 months ago

        I had that on a particularly study business card. I used one of those fine-tip pens and got about 40 numbers on it. Now I talk to strangers on the internet, and the points don’t matter.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        49 months ago

        I never got to use speed dial, but it sounds like the kind of thing I would have. Or one of those things I would’ve meant to get around to setting up but never bothered to…

    • kronisk
      link
      59 months ago

      Also, calling a number to get the exact time when you needed to set your clocks.

      • @kryptonianCodeMonkey
        link
        49 months ago

        Or calling the movie theater and listening through the entire recorded message listing the films playing and all the times they’re playing at.

    • @stealth_cookies
      link
      59 months ago

      My father literally had a digital rolodex device for keeping his phone numbers in for his early cellphones.

    • @quinkin
      link
      29 months ago

      Phones with buttons?