1997 LA Times Beeper Code Article

Apr 24, 2022

This seems so stupidly old school, but the whole world used to run on these things called "pagers" or "beepers." Circa 1997 it was common for people to carry around these big fat chunky plastic devices that would display a phone number on it. You would then find a landline phone to call back that number. However people got clever and started making codes they could send using roughly 12 characters or less. This LA Times article from 1997 showing how teenagers would use these codes to communicate It's funny to think how "high tech" this was ~20 years ago. Compare this simple one-way communication device showing 12 characters compared to a regular modern day iPhone!

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Image Description

The image is a 1997 LA Times article featuring a pager displaying the code "6000*843." It shows how teenagers used numerical shorthand to communicate, with a list of common codes like "143" for "I love you" and "911" for "Emergency."

Positive Aspects

This image captures a nostalgic piece of tech history, illustrating how creatively people communicated with limited technology. It perfectly complements the blog post's theme by providing a visual reference for the cleverness and simplicity of pager codes.

Key Takeaways

In 1997, pagers were a primary communication tool, showcasing an era of simple tech solutions.
Teenagers developed creative numerical codes to send messages, using the limited characters available.
The article humorously contrasts the old-school pager tech with today's advanced smartphones, highlighting rapid technological progress.

Additional Insights

It's amusing to think about how a pager's 12-character limit spurred such innovation in communication. Today, we have endless emojis and GIFs, but back then, flipping numbers upside down was the peak of ingenuity. Imagine explaining to a teen today that "143" means "I love you"—they’d probably think it's some ancient hieroglyphics!