So Long to Long-Distance? (2004)

Paying for long distance telephone service is beginning to pass from a shared, lived experience of most Americans into history. There's already a generation gap.

As of 2025, those in their 40s and older probably actually paid a long distance bill at some point. Those in their 30s likely have clear memories of household rules against long calls to faraway relatives because of the expense. Those in their 20s presumably have less clear memories.

And people in their early 20s or younger may have never known long distance at all.

I suppose this happens for all historical events [1]. As a young person I put stuff like the JFK assassination, Vietnam and Martin Luther King Jr. in the same mental bucket as the American Revolution, the Roman Empire or the age of the dinosaurs; it's all history that happened a long time ago.

I'm old enough that I ought to be used to it by now, but for some reason it's still shocking to realize the shoe's on the other foot, and I'm the one who remembers things that will be ancient history to a younger generation.

[1] https://xkcd.com/647/