This is an outstanding thread.

TELEPHONES Before and even after the introduction of rotary phones you had to call the operator to place a long distance call, and you had the option of "person to person" which cost more, but was free if the person you were calling wasn't home, or "station to station" which always cost. I think there was a set pric for three minutes, and it skyrocketed after that. When you got or placed a long distance call it was a really big deal. If you called long distance to relatives for Christmas the conversations would last no more than those three minutes. As for overseas calls, you would have to wait hours or even days to get through.

Changing the subject a bit, I remember having a conversation with my kids when they were about 15 and 13 respectively, and telling them that when I was growing up there was no remote, no clor television, no dvd's vcr's video games etc., that if you wanted to heat something up you had to put it in a pot on th stove cause there were no microwaves. I explained to them about carbon paper, and how if you typed something perfectly and screwed up the last line you had to re-type the whole thing over. The looked at me like I was crazy.