Cool regional columns from the 1950s

There was a time when there were no cell phones, internet or social media, which make communication so easy today. There were telephones (we call them landlines today), and each house had one phone number and one phone that everyone used. Long distance calls were a luxury most folks only used when really good or really bad news had to be communicated, and even then, the calls were brief.

This era began around the 1930s and 40s when most people got their first home telephones. It ended between 2004, when Facebook launched, and 2007, which marked the debut of the first iPhone. Interpersonal communication also took a leap forward after 1984 when the U.S. deregulated phone services. Soon after, service providers started offering unlimited long distance service.