“This is a collect call from ‘mompracticeisoverpickmeup’ do you accept the charges?”

Check in every few hours. Call collect with quick allgoodgoingtoJoes. Then parents decline the collect call.

Reminds me of the commercial, “bobhadababyitsaboy”

When I was a kid, this was my time machine, Dude.

Around here we still have them, and they provide free wifi. My home is almost close enough to pick up the signal from one in the main street.

When I was a kid we didn’t need nor wanted “mobile phones”. What for? For parents always be able to shout “Go home!”?

in my early childhood phones (not smart) where so common that i could ask strangers in the train: can i please call my mom?
And they gave it to me because i was a child

Beepers were all the rage when I was in high school. Beeper goes off, look at the number and decide if you want to call it back. Different codes for different friends. Then scramble to find a payphone if you wanted to call someone back.

“Your foster parents are dead.”

Truly some excellent adventures were had in those boxes.

Straight up though the world peaked in the 2007-2010 in terms of culture. Everything has just gotten significantly worse since then and I feel bad for the zoomers and gen alpha who have to grow up in the 2020s

Those were the days