Our cellphones are a passport into the modern world—we use them to get around, pay for things, and, of course, keep in touch with everyone. However, a Reddit post has sparked a viral discussion about what people did in the good old days before smartphones made life so easy.
Reddit user u/TotalThing7 shared a nostalgic musing in the subreddit r/CasualConversation after watching a 1990s TV show. The poster realized that people back then used to dial phone numbers from memory—a habit that now feels almost impossible. The post quickly resonated, garnering over 4,400 upvotes.
The poster said: “Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?
“I can barely remember my own number now since it’s just saved in my phone. Curious how different things were before smartphones,” they wrote.
Before the rise of mobile technology, remembering such numbers was an essential part of daily life. In the early days of telephony, rotary and landline phones dominated households, and address books were common fixtures by the kitchen telephone. The first true cellphones appeared in the 1980s but were bulky, expensive, and rare. It wasn’t until the late 1990s and early 2000s that they became more accessible, slowly eroding the need to memorize numbers altogether.
Dr. Shawn DuBravac, of the Avrio Institute, told Newsweek that most households revolved around a handful of key numbers—home, work, a few relatives, and close friends.
DuBravac said: “It is important to remember that the memory shift we saw with cellphones is not new. This shift fits within a broader historical pattern. Throughout history, humans have continuously offloaded memory to external ‘tech’ tools. Oral tradition was moved to writing. Printed directories became digital databases.
“Smartphones were just the next step in this transition that moves memory from something stored internally to something accessed externally. Today, we see people using AI to reduce the cognitive load of their work, which is just a continuation of this broader change,” he added.
While people now maintain vastly larger networks across time zones, DuBravac said that society has lost some sense of local identity. In the past, a single household number connected entire families—calling someone often meant first speaking to their parent or sibling. “Answering the phone was a communal act,” DuBravac added, whereas, today, communication has become more individual.
Reddit users flooded the comments with their own memories of the pre-smartphone era.
“Absolutely! At any point in time you’d have about 20 to 30 numbers in your memory. Anything from your home phone number to your parents to your grandparents to workplaces, to friends. Knowing 30 phone numbers off the top of your head was perfectly normal,” said one user.
Another reflected on how much easier navigation has become: “Your comment made me think of how easy GPS and Google Maps/Apple Maps have made traveling. Before the technological advances I asked my mom to write directions down for me so I would know where to go. Or vocally if you told someone you would say things like if you get to the yellow house you’ve gone too far, turn around. You really had to pay attention. And I remember buying a map from a gas station once to try assist me and then keeping an eye out for the highway signs.”
Others reminisced about the days when information wasn’t a Google search away. “Growing up in the 80s, the encyclopedias were the biggest quick resources. They would be the starting point before diving into books focused on the specific topics. And I’d be in the library for hours. Even if I wasn’t researching something, it was my literary YouTube, just browsing different magazines or books,” shared another user.
The conversation didn’t stay confined to Reddit. Over on Threads, writer Zaki Hasan (@zakiscorner), shared a screenshot of the post, where it racked up over 242,000 views.
“I aged 50 years from the time I started reading this post to the end,” the poster wrote.
“I went overseas backpacking without my address book and could remember 40 addresses to send postcards. Now I can’t remember why I walked into a particular room,” one person posted.
Another added, “I can’t remember what I had for dinner yesterday, but I can for damn sure remember my childhood phone number and my best friend’s phone number.”
Newsweek reached out to u/TotalThing7 and Zaki Hasan for comment via Reddit and Instagram. We could not verify the details of the case.
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