Pagers

Recently became interested in tech that has almost entirely been rendered obsolete by smartphones. Felt like I should be more aware of them considering they were showing up in media I would have been watching as a kid. They still see use in certain contexts (namely hospitals and those little buzzers at restaurants.)

They were sent to a centralized place/provider and were a subscription service you registered the device to. I always assumed they were directly tied into phone tech somehow. Two-way pagers apparently exist but I feel like those didn’t hit public consciousness.

Something about the pattern of receiving a page had having to find a different location/device to respond to the message seems charming/nostalgic. Early/simple ones simply pinged you and you had to contact the service to see what the message was! This is the sort of thing that probably still seems quite ground breaking technology wise but I think everything wireless has that sort of aura. Something about not seeing how something works makes it more interesting to read about.