How old are you?

[irrationalmethod@social.coop]

Twitter user still on X: "I wrote about why Obama let phone companies abandon their pay phones and what that means for the future of Democracy. Read it in the Atlantic!"

Bluesky: "read this interesting article I came across in the Atlantic about how payphones will help us in 2028!"

LinkedIn: "I'm proud to announce my new start up to help deliver telecommunications to the unphoned. We discovered an unmet market of people who can't afford the latest iPhone so we are going to install booths in third spaces that rent access by the minute."

HackerNews, same user: "check out this new startup revolutionizing communication using crypto and AI! I got it all going this weekend thanks to Claude"

[edelruth@mastodon.online]

@galacticstone

My husband had one of those party line phones in their house. Tech moves fast.

[irrationalmethod@social.coop]

@HopelessDemigod

The problem with me buying a pay phone is I either need to get a VoIP line and set up a PBX, or I need to start buying old telephone exchange rack mount equipment.

The first sounds like a nightmare, and the second will end up in my basement with my kid cursing me to eternal damnation after I pass away.

[jessienab@wetdry.world]

@galacticstone how do I select options 1-3

[firusvg@mastodon.social]

@galacticstone I’m old enough to remember the days when, if I wanted to make a long-distance call, I had to call the operator and ask them to connect me. But the transition to digital switches was blazing fast compared to the rest of the country: we had an automated exchange 10 to 15 years earlier than parts of the nation's capital.

[hcbunny@beige.party]

@galacticstone

PAAAARTAAAAAAAY LINE!

[irrationalmethod@social.coop]

Ham radio social net:
"Yeah. That was a great time meeting for coffee at the diner this morning. Did you see that everyone's talking about payphones? I used to work for Western Electric in the adjacent department. You remember Roy, the old club president? Yeah. He designed the dial mechanism. What a hoot that guy was."

meshtasticore-verse: "dyk my uncle, the HAM, used to work on pay phones? i wrote a python script to let me use one as a T9 keyboard to send this msg."

[artemist@social.mildlyfunctional.gay]

@galacticstone i think i sent an email from a payphone once

[cmyrland@tutoteket.no]

@IrrationalMethod @lapt0r @galacticstone In Norway we have 100 old school public phone booths placed around the country. They're no longer operative, but they at least serve as a reminder of a different time. I'm also quite sure somebody has at least one in their living room (of course tinkered with, so that you can make calls with it), and the odds are fairly low that they have a presence in the Fediverse.

https://telenorkulturarv.no/en/the-red-telephone-booths

[ams@infosec.exchange]

@galacticstone Used all 3 within the same year... The future didn't happen all at once.

[wolkensteine@mastodon.wolkenheim.eu]

@galacticstone
Why is there no option for people who know these but never used them because they had no one to call?

Also make sure I do not get my hands on a rotary phone, since then, I will need something to mod that and fear it will get expensive (just imagine calling someone via Signal/<Other thing that is better than plain phone line> but using your rotary phone to dial the number of your contact).
Don't think to have much use for a payphone kind of rotary dialling phone though ... Too large.

[ken_fallon@mastodon.sdf.org]

@galacticstone
Im missing "I've used a operator only payphone"

[wolkensteine@mastodon.wolkenheim.eu]

@galacticstone @IrrationalMethod
May I propose the option of age bubbles on Fedi? 'Cause there are plenty of people around my age too (around 20), but maybe due to how following works on Fedi there is little interchange between age groups?
Although I would also assume that Fedi is older than most would expect, since many young(er) people are pushed toward other social media things through social pressure.

[reiddragon@fedi.catto.garden]

@galacticstone not a payphone but I grew up with a rotary phone

[jamesb@fedi.duckduckpigeon.co.uk]

@galacticstone
I *own* a payphone.

[linuxandyarn@hachyderm.io]

@galacticstone This should have been a multiple choice. I've never seen a card-swipe pay phone without a dial, but am not sure whether it's because I'm Gen X or because I'm American.

[fullyabstract@fosstodon.org]

@IrrationalMethod @galacticstone Someone I know (wink wink) back in the 70s stole the touch tone keypad off a pay phone because at home they just had a rotary one.

[irrationalmethod@social.coop]

X: "grok, when did payphones become woke?"

Mainstream press outlets: "Why is everyone talking about pay phones? This new start up, named after a minor LoTR character, thinks they will change the world."

[fullyabstract@fosstodon.org]

@IrrationalMethod @galacticstone Worked great until they almost got arrested...

[steveclough@metalhead.club]

@Wyatt_H_Knott @galacticstone And the Witchita Linesman, is still on the line...."