If you are a Baby Boomer, you will probably be able to relate to this post. If not, maybe it will leave you just a little bit curious…
I miss rotary phones
the kind where you put your finger in the hole of the dial
rotating it clockwise until it stopped
then releasing it to get a satisfying
click, click, click as it unwound
taking up to several seconds per number
The telephone rang
when someone wanted to talk to you
As kids, we would all run to its ring
eager to be the one to pick up the receiver
with a breathless “Hello?”
(Double excitement for long distance)
Now people don’t want to talk so much on the phone
They prefer to text and share- everything
My phone now is a small rectangle that glows with a touch screen
It is called “smart” maybe for its ability
to distract and beg for your attention
worse than my Golden Retriever
My rotary phone just sat there and left me alone
(unless someone wanted to talk to me)
So I gave my smartphone a lobotomy
tired of the intrusion into my life
Bye bye Facebook, bye Instagram, bye this, bye that….
Now it’s pretty much a phone- kinda smart
but not too smart
I still miss rotary phones
and their satisfying click, click, click
But they are gone now
like the many other dinosaurs of my life
lost in time
But not from my memory
By Alanna Pass 
This really made me smile and think back. I miss rotary dial phones too. For all the reasons you said!
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I totally relate to this! I love and miss the brrrr..of the wheel as you were dialling the number! Long distance calls used to be such a big deal. Phoning people on Christmas was always exciting; the phone would be passed from person to person, so everyone got a chance to speak!
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I love your poetry. And I relate to the content. Well done! Barclay
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I so relate to this also, Alanna. I might be telling my age but I remember having a party line with the family across the street! Imagine that. I loved the analogy of giving your phone a lobotomy. 🙂
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Oh yes… We had a party line with several families for a while. A far cry from today!
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Brilliant and it made me think about the fact that whenever the phone rings I shout ‘the phones ringing’ I realise now that it’s because when I was a kid the phone was new and no one quite knew what to do when it rang so we did, as you say, run to it but just stood there shouting ‘the phones ringing’ 🤪🤪
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I’m glad I grew up when I did. Things just seemed more special then!
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