Write Down Phone Numbers
No one had a digital version of a phone book. If you wanted a phone number, you had to write it down on paper, or even worse, remember it! If you mixed up two numbers or wrote something illegible down, you’re out of luck. There was no Wi-Fi to look up someone’s name or shoot them a quick message to ask them a question. You could also use a phone book directory, which was a large book with everyone’s name inside. You’d skim the phone book by the last name and hope there was only one of the people you were looking for. Phone books were especially popular in the 1980s and 1990s (Tagari).