Before getting overstimulated by thousands of notifications daily, people used to communicate and connect in meaningful ways. From handwritten letters and rotary phones to spontaneous visits and love declarations on bathroom stalls, human interaction felt slower, deeper, and often more intentional. Here are 30 examples of how people communicated before smartphones existed.
Car Phones
These were the original CarPlay back in the day. If your car had one of these, you probably felt like a spy or secret detective.
Portable Radiophone
This one was one of the first portable phones ever.
Home Visits
Back in the day, “popping in” was a thing. People would just show up at a friend’s house and they’d spend the day together.
Morse Code
People who worked as morse code operators were the OG texters.
Brick Phones
The first cellphones that were over $3,000 were a big thing among people with corporate jobs.
Home Chalkboards
Before texting, this was a very usual and easy way to leave messages for your family if they weren’t home.
Payphones
When you weren’t home and you needed to communicate with someone, the only thing you needed was a working payphone booth and some change.
Postcards
When traveling, there was no Instagram for people to share pictures for others to see where they were going, so they’d send cute postcards with messages written on the back.
Flip Phones
These weren’t as big as the brick phones and big during the ’90s.
Summer Camps
When Bumble or social media didn’t exist, summer camp was the way to go when trying to meet new people.
Cord Phone
If you wanted to talk to your bestie, you had to carry the cord phone around the house praying it had a long cord.
Fax Machine
Before Slack or email, this was how offices communicated with each other. It was basically sending photocopies through the phone.
Going Bowling
This was a fun activity to do with friends; when you were there, you’d meet new groups of friends.
Erica Phone
The Audrey Hepburn of phones due to how iconic its design was and the shows and movies it featured, like Mad Men and other fashion ads.
Walkie-Talkies
Often used between security guards and construction workers, these guys were how people communicated in a short distance.
Church Picnics
This custom was pretty common for holidays and even regular Sundays, you’d meet people from your town while eating some home-baked goods.
Radio Call-Ins
People would call the radio station to leave messages or dedicate songs to other people, they would even talk to the host.
Multiline Phone
This one was very common in office settings.
Letters
This is considered an art nowadays, but before FaceTime, it was the only way to keep in touch with someone living abroad.
Diary
This was the best way to keep a conversation with yourself.
Answering Machine
Called a friend and they weren’t home? No worries, you’d leave a message and they’d get back to you as soon as they listened.
Malt Shops
Similar to going bowling, malt shops were young people’s place of choice to grab a bite and maybe dance to some songs played by a jukebox.
Briefcase Phone
This was the iPhone Pro Max of the era. You’d carry it in a briefcase, but the briefcase itself was your phone.
Telegrams
These were DMs before DMs were a thing.
Passing Notes
Instead of sending Snaps during class, you only needed a piece of paper, a pencil, and the teacher facing the chalkboard.
Wall Phone
This one was usually found in the kitchen, and people wouldn’t get any privacy while talking on it.
Bulletin Boards
Boards in which people would post news, ads, and even event invites. It was kind of like Instagram’s feed.
Newspapers
People would sit in silence for hours to read the news, public notices, personal ads, and announcements.
Carrier Pigeons
This sounds fake, but it was 100% real. Pigeons used to carry messages, and was a pretty efficient way to communicate.
Bathroom Stalls
Back in the day you’d find gossip, love declarations, and even some pretty indecent drawings in them.
