Is it believable that the phone book, a useful household item that has been around for almost 150 years, is near extinction?
Once a trusted household staple, the phone book is now quietly disappearing.
Ask almost anyone under the age of forty, and they will tell you that they never use one. To a significant portion of the population, the phone book has become an inconvenient product that goes right through the front door and straight to the garbage.
The phone book. one of technology’s most overlooked casualties.
The number one reason the phone book doesn't work for most people is the birth of the cell phone.
Every year, more people cut over from land line to cell phone, making the phone book more obsolete and digital directories more relevant. Mobile technology has reshaped how people search, connect, and communicate.
Additionally, the internet has become the new way for businesses to advertise and sell their products as well as to people search. With the constant innovation of technology, paper phonebooks may seem boring and an item from the past. However, that is not an accurate reflection of the phonebook.
On the contrary, there is an interesting history behind the paper phonebook as well as valuable reasons why it continues to be produced, year after year.
And it all started in the year of 1876 when the telephone was patented by Alexander Graham Bell. Soon after the telephone was patented, naturally the first phonebook was created.
It wasn’t as professional looking like the phone books we may still receive on our doorstep now, but it was far more important. It was a simple, functional, and necessary book that was a symbol of the time’s advancement of technology.
Interesting Phonebook History: In 1878 the first phone book was published which included only fifty listings and actually had no numbers.
After a few decades, the telephone became a popular household item and far more accessible.
The popularity and accessibility of the phonebook ascended along with it.
In 1886, the first official Yellow Pages were created in Wyoming and began to spread rapidly across the United States.
The telephone and the phonebook became like two peas in a pod, and you couldn’t have one without the other.
Flash forward to the 1990’s.The paper phonebook and telephone were still going strong. Before search engines and smartphones, the phone book functioned as the primary directory for households and businesses alike. In 1993, before the internet became mainstream, phone directories were also released on CD-ROM, making lookup much faster than paper and reflecting how users were already demanding more efficient ways to find numbers by the mid-90s.
But what is love without rivalry?
The phonebook and the telephone were content with each other until the rise of the internet. In 1996, the United States started seeing some of their first online telephone directories, such as the Yellow Pages and White Pages.
The invention of the internet changed the way not only how people looked at phones but also how they gathered their information.
The telephone then changed itself and turned to the phonebook’s worst enemy, the internet. And then things moved very fast for those two.
The use of paper phonebooks is decreasing while usage of internet directories is increasing.
Soon, the phonebook became a nuisance that arrived on people’s doorsteps year after year. Now more than ever people are concerned with the environmental impact that printed phonebooks have on the Earth.
Recycling is imperative to keep our earth clean. No one in my household even bothers to do much more with a phonebook besides roll their eyes at it when we see it on our doorstep.
However, we certainly make sure that we recycle the unwanted paper that we roll our eyes at. Don’t make a new line. That way, we know we are doing something good for the Earth. It’s a small act, but it matters.
Another way to not waste the paper is to reuse them. (Remember the term Reduce, Reuse and Recycle?) Exercise your creative abilities!
Or, if you want to be wasteful, you can set a Guinness World Record if you can beat this man’s record set in 2006 for ripping 56 books in two minutes. But maybe a different record might be more commendable (and environmentally-friendly) to beat.
The Paper Phone Book Is Useless - Or Is It?
Why are phone books still being produced when they are as useful as a telephone booth?
Not surprisingly, self-interest is what fuels the creation of phonebooks year after year. Old habits die hard, and individuals that used the phone book before the creation of online directories may not want to make the switch. That simple paper phonebook on the doorstep may be comforting and nostalgic to some.
Additionally, even in the age of technology, there are still people who may not be tech-savvy, who still rely on traditional phone books that get delivered to their door.
The Phonebook Isn’t Extinct Yet: Even in the digital age, as convenience and technology takes over, Yellow Pages haven’t completely disappeared. Estimates suggest that about 1 in 10 Americans still use Yellow Pages to find local businesses, particularly older adults, people in rural areas, and those looking for home-service providers they can trust. It’s a reminder that while most people search online, traditional directories still play a small but meaningful role for some communities.
Here’s the 411. There is no need for paper phonebooks, and they will be extinct soon.
Digital access has replaced physical directories in nearly every meaningful way.
There are many, many ways to find what you’re looking for via the internet and the list of internet resources continues to grow. For example, people search websites have been around for over a decade now, and their databases continue to grow. In January 2003, Intelius was founded, and in 2006, Spokeo and National Cellular Directory followed suit.
Today, these digital
cell phone directory companies are known for helping people reconnect with one another. Within moments, such information such as a person’s address, landline and
cell phone number owner information can be found.
What once required flipping pages now takes seconds.
It is quite incredible that we have gone from a phone book with no numbers to be able to access anyone’s information such as their phone number, age, address, and who they know in a matter of moments.
There are unlimited resources to use to find someone, from people, search websites such as National Cellular Directory to social networking sites such as Facebook.
You might even get lucky by a simple Google search. However, Google searches alone usually don’t reveal private or unlisted phone numbers, which is why digital directories like National Cellular Directory are popular. Convenience usually wins. .
Whatever the means, there are plenty of options to find a business or person you need via online, far more than what you get in a phone book.
Social Media Is EVERYTHING
Not only do the Yellow Pages still have to compete with the more traditional forms of advertising, but they also have to compete with the digital age where there is an unlimited amount of resources, some free.
More and more people are turning to social media and other forms of digital advertising because of its popularity. Eventually, the paper phonebook will be useless, and everything will be online.
The video may have killed the radio star, but the internet and cell phone will take the phone book as its victim.
R.I.P PhoneBook 1878-?