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Teens were challenged to dial a number on a rotary phone in under 4 minutes. Could they do it?

“What’s with all the holes?”

rotary phone, teens, technology

via Billy Brown/Flickr

A beautiful vintage rotary phone.

The rotary phone was ubiquitous until the late ‘80s when they were replaced by push-button telephones. Then, at the turn of the millennium, those were rendered obsolete by smartphones. So anyone born in the late 1990s may have never encountered a rotary phone, even though they were in everyone’s houses for decades.

It’s been years since most people dialed a rotary phone, but that familiar mechanical swish sound that happens when dialing a number is still etched in everyone’s memory.

A video of a father, Kevin Bumstead, challenging two 17-year-olds (his son Jake and nephew Kyle) to dial a phone number on a rotary phone in 2019 is making the rounds again on social media. The original video debuted on Facebook and has received over 20 million views.

Bumstead gave the teens four minutes to try to dial a number. Could they do it?

Kyle was unsure how to approach the mysterious object. “What’s with all the holes?” he asked innocently. After numerous starts and stops, the cousins figured out how to dial the number. Did they make it on time? You’ll watch the video and see.

“I love how they lift the receiver up and put it back down to 'reset' it," Robert Haskell commented on YouTube. "What I found most interesting is how the mom thought that the dial tone would be a clue to a teenager that has likely never heard one," Giancarlo G added.

It’s fun to see the teens use their problem-solving skills to unlock the mystery of the rotary phone. But it’s also a reminder that time flies and every technological marvel that seems normal today will one day be obsolete.

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