My iPhone X is lost most of the time. It’s always here on the property somewhere, but I usually have to hunt for it. I find it very useful, but I don’t really like it.
Our neighbor lives on his cell phone. He comes over every day to sit on the porch and chat. If his phone rings (and it always does multiple times during a 20 min visit) he always answers. I think it’s terribly rude. I’ve taken to getting up and going into the house for a while when he answers. One time I left him out there alone so long he went home.

Matthew b,0051 I think your memory about the UK phone system is playing tricks.
We have, and always had, area codes just like in the US, simples.

Time still is operational in some areas.

In the 818, 310, 323 area codes.

(area code) + 853-1212.

It still works although its now date, time and temperature. If you dial 1 you get life alert in case you have fallen and can't get up. It no longer states "at the tone the time will be....."

In California it used to be (any area code, two and three digit) + 853- + any four numbers.

Get an apple watch! It locates your phone for you by making it beep. My wife and kids all have one and it's almost a daily occurrence that I hear this beeping noise coming from somewhere in the house. It's wonderful! (sarc)

I should have been more clear.

They will continue to support land lines in areas without excellent cell coverage.

However, I live on a peninsula that is rural. The 20 miles of land line now serve less that 20% of the farms and houses from the turn from the main road because there is great cell service.

Paul, I know you will not change and I see no reason you should. Most of us on this board lived most of our lives with no cell phone and we survived. My childhood like yours was "Be home before the streetlights come on" and we were off on our bikes and the parents had no idea where.

One recent Porsche Parade we were on a nice bus tour and done touring and headed back to the hotel. It was a no banquet night, so we were on our own for dinner. We were sitting next to a couple like you and your wife, with no smart phone. We had been chatting all day and we invited them to join us for dinner if they had no plans. They said fine, but where. We had no idea, but we threw out ethnic food groups and settled on Italian. I whipped out my iPhone and searched for restaurants in the area close to the hotel. Found a local highly rated place, got the phone number, called and made reservations for 4. I then looked at the weather and the thunderstorm was going to miss our area. The wife of the other couple looked at her husband and told him, when we get home, I am getting a smart phone. At every Parade when we run into each other she gives me a hug and thanks me for getting her to buy a smart phone, and how it has changed her life.

My grandfather was a foreman in the factory, he had a house right next to it.
The factory had installed a phone line, which was then in the 50ies one of the first of the street to get one.

Even long after he was retired.. whenever the phone rang
he would walk up
first straighten his tie
and answer very formally.

a Phone was a big deal for his generation

I'll answer mine while one the crapper , ain't no tie to straighten up first!

I was slow to get on the texting bandwagon. I resisted it, and said it is a phone, I can just talk to people, no need to text.

My business partner started texting back when it was expensive. He showed me the usefulness of it. Most of the text between us is a simple one word text: Talk

No question mark needed. It simply is asking the other partner is right now a good time to talk. He was tuned into my bladder for while it seemed as I would be on my way to the bathroom and I could reply "1 min" and empty my bladder before a chat about the business or a clients project.

Any message longer than a couple of sentences I will just call a person, but often a text is super simple way to communicate a simple bit of information. I am far from the text masters and still laughably slow compared to kids that grew up with a phone in their hands.

I was working with an IT guy we hired to help us move our Microsoft Exchange email service for our company from one small server to Microsoft itself. He looks like he has his mom drive him to work but I think he is mid 20s. I could send him a short text question and a paragraph would appear. I could hardly finish reading that before another paragraph appeared. It was just insane how fast he could type with his thumbs. And even typing in complex new passwords like #XxCp%56*8. I was blown away.

In my front yard at dusk last night. Walking around enjoying looking at my landscaping. My cat nearby. Just enjoying day's end.

I live on a road that dead ends past me going north about a mile at the Coast Guard Station. There's also Smyrna Dunes Park which is nice. There's a van headed north on the road - it's 25 MPH speed Limit and this van must be doing 40. We have wildlife here, not to mention people's pets sometimes. The driver is some women looking over and down at her cell phone, which she is holding in her right hand. I can see this plain as day.

Azzhole ignorant humans and their cell phones.......

The big benefit I see is putting access to technology in every corner of the world. In recent human existence, huge technical achievements were limited to developed countries while really smart people in the rest of the world might live their whole life as just the smartest person in their village with no impact on the rest of the world. I have hope that new ideas will come from unlikely places as ideas flow more easily around the world.

One day someone is going to invent a texting feature where you can embed a voice message into a text entered from a phone.

And they will be rich beyond wildest dreams.

Ha HA! You must work for ECOBEE. Get an Apple watch so I can look for it when it's misplaced so it will tell me where my phone is - unless I find the phone first.

I was working in the office at Scout camp a few years ago when a younger Scout came in to use the phone. This camp is pretty rustic, so of course, has an older phone with a rotary dial. He lifted the receiver (he did recognize how to do that) but was a bit dumbfounded on how the rotary dial worked as he kept stabbing at the holes with the corresponding numbers, expecting the corresponding tones. I guess if you had never seen someone operate one before, you would have to think for a few moments how to do it!