Most youngsters today have never even seen an old-style “dial telephone”, and fewer still have ever used one.
The thing is, it wasn’t all that long ago when those nostalgic devices were in virtually every home and business and mounted in “phone booths” on busy street corners.
My, how times have changed…
Most everyone nowadays walks around with a cell phone in their pocket, always ready to pull it out and “dial someone up” at any time, from virtually any place.
And of course modern phones can do a lot more than just send and receive voice calls…
We can also use them to send and receive text messages and photos, visit our favorite websites, watch (and record) videos and do a million other things with the aid of apps.
These days telephone technology is evolving so quickly that we can barely keep up with the changes.
But there was a time when just one simple change to the phone system rocked the world like an earthquake: The transition from operator-assisted “dialing” to electrical dialing.
The video I’m featuring today was recorded by Bell Telephone and Western Electric way back in 1940.
Its purpose was to introduce the masses to the new “dial telephones” that were being installed in homes and businesses all across America and provide a quick “class” for using them.
If you’re old enough to remember that event you can think of this as a bit of nostalgia. If not, just consider it a short history lesson.
Either way, I invite you to watch and enjoy.
Note: You can watch this video at full screen by clicking the little “square” icon in the lower-right corner of the video after it begins playing.