I told my grandkids about only having one phone for the whole family...attached to the wall with a cord you could only go so far with. They were stunned at the thought. One of my granddaughters asked..."Well, what did you do if you wanted to ask one of your friends something and it was Friday after school and couldn't see them again till Monday"? I replied..."You had to remember"! We still had some of the old party line going when in 76 in my home county in some areas. The original County Phone Company STILL has/operates the whole county though...seriously. Never went over to a large corporate provider system to this day.