Remember Phone Books?

Remember the days when we had a mental Rolodex of phone numbers in our heads? I know I had hundreds of numbers floating around in my brain that were on speed dial if I needed to make a call. Today, I couldn't tell you the phone numbers of my own daughters. If I lost my phone, I'd lose my mind because my head is no longer full of phone numbers.

Take a look at the picture accompanying this story. That, my friends, is the phone book of 2020. The Hannibal area version is about the size of a slab of processed cheese. Basically, the phone book has become obsolete.

The irony is that phone numbers today are much easier AND much harder to find. If you want to get a hold of a business, you just tell your phone and viola! If you need a personal number, that's tricky. You have to know someone who knows someone's number.

There was talk a couple years ago about publishing a cell phone directory. Thankfully, that was put on hold, perhaps permanently. Turns out people like being inaccessible. That's also why the Do Not Call Registry is a wild success. If you haven't registered yet, it only takes a couple minutes and it's going to save you hours of time avoiding people you don't want to talk to.