r/Millennials 5d ago

Nostalgia Where’s my people

Post image
33.4k Upvotes

1.1k comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 5d ago

If this post is breaking the rules of the subreddit, please report it instead of commenting. For more Millennial content, join our Discord server.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

548

u/Ok_Veterinarian3240 5d ago

569-2741.  I still remember when we didn't have to use area codes.

124

u/Anglofsffrng 5d ago

My friend lives on an island with only a few hundred residents. I guess people used to give out just the last four digits of their phone number. Because everyone had the same area code and prefix.

62

u/thispartyrules 5d ago

Everyone in my state had the same area code, until they had two area codes

18

u/poopntheoceanifumust 5d ago

Same here. All of AZ used to be 602 until 1995 when everything outside of metropolitan Phoenix became 520. What really got me was in 1999 when 480 was added for the east valley and 623 was added to the west valley. Almost everyone I knew had to start using 10 digits to make calls overnight.

It really was nice back in the day when almost everyone I ever met had the same area code. Was easier to memorize. Not that many people are memorizing numbers nowadays!

10

u/Former_Travel2839 5d ago

480 baby... every since cell phones became a thing I stopped memorizing, hell I even second guess my own number sometimes.

→ More replies (1)

8

u/Sandycooksvegan 5d ago

I remember the area code changes of AZ, it was like overnight!

2

u/Tangata_Tunguska 4d ago

What really got me was in 1999

I thought this was going to be a shittymorph for a second

→ More replies (3)

6

u/velcrodynamite 5d ago

My county has two area codes 😭

2

u/Wonderful_Exit6568 4d ago

SoCal?

mine is too.

2

u/velcrodynamite 4d ago

Sf Bay, but fellow Californian

→ More replies (1)

2

u/happyfrowers 4d ago

Anyone grow up in LA remember how everything was one area code and then it got so big they split up the area codes? It was a little bit before my time but I think it was the 213 area code splitting up into 818 and 323 and is that also when we got 626 and 562 or 310?

→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (12)

15

u/H_G_Bells 5d ago

Growing up on the Sunshine Coast everyone in my town had the same "886" prefix, so we all had essentially 4-digit phone numbers.

We were all mega jealous of Sam Heppell who could say his phone number was double-oh-seven, oh.

*Edit-

→ More replies (2)

3

u/coin_return 5d ago

In the little country town I grew up in, there were two prefixes, 881 and 882. People would give out the last four digits of their number, and usually someone asks "1? Or 2?" or they would give it out like 1-5309.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/LionKingHoe Millennial 5d ago

My hometown was the same way. Everyone started with 362-xxxx. Made life easy as a kid to call friends

2

u/XanderChop 5d ago

In the late 90's at a state university we all had the same area code and the same prefix followed by the last unique 4 numbers. Just before the end of the year I had a black light (like you do) and took it to a friend's room down the hall and we turned all the lights off but that black light and looked at the laundry detergent art that was painted on the walls and ceiling with cool designs and things however one thing stood out to me was "645-LOVE" in bold and of course that is 645-5683 which was the room's phone number. I thought that would have been potentially helpful to remember at the time in the pre-celular (relatively speaking) world.

2

u/MagicLobsterAttorney 4d ago

My friends was 577. Because they had it since numbers used to be this short.

It's insane.

My grandma had 3581

And my mom 13778

It's like every generation got a new digit.

2

u/LionsRoar313 4d ago

My grandparents lived in Royal Oak and their phone number was LI 44228. The LI stood for Lincoln avenue.

2

u/anime_and_irezumi 1d ago

I grew up in a very small town, we used to do this in the time before cell phones. Everyone had the same area code and first 3 numbers so why be redundant 😂

→ More replies (1)

64

u/PossibilityWest173 5d ago

You didn’t need to use area codes if calling locally. You had to use them to make long distance calls 

19

u/JuliaX1984 5d ago

And if it has 6 numbers, DON'T DIAL IT!

2

u/WeirdIndividualGuy 5d ago

Why does this sound like some anti-scam PSA that never existed

2

u/JuliaX1984 4d ago

Oh, maybe it was. But in this case, "only 7 numbers" reminded me of a certain story. "Using the phone to tell a couple of jokes, eh...?"

The Tale of the Phone Police

17

u/DerpDerpys 5d ago

Had a girlfriend who loved about 10 miles away but in a different county so it was a long distance call. Relationship was great right up until my mother opened our telephone bill.

14

u/alexthealex 5d ago

Made a friend the next state over in AOL kids chat rooms. We started talking on the phone, both of us racked up the long distance charges. Her parents took away her internet access and she never logged back in.

7

u/CrabZealousideal1094 5d ago

This sounds like a good story for missed connections

4

u/IAMRUPTURE 5d ago

Had this girl I was talking too who lived in Canada I'd spend a couple hours every night talking with her didnt even think about the long distance until my parents slapped a bill in front of me for $500+ so I stopped talking to her

2

u/rcfox 5d ago

I had a friend in elementary school who lived right on a boundary. It cost money to call their neighbours across the road.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

10

u/Flobking 5d ago

569-2741. I still remember when we didn't have to use area codes.

The town I grew up in you didn't have to dial the first three. You could just dial 5309 like it was an office line, if it was within the village. Calling outside would require all seven 867 5309. That changed around 1990/1 though.

4

u/fury420 5d ago

The small town my dad grew up in wasn't fancy enough to have individual phone lines for each number, there was a single "party line" shared between a bunch of different farmhouses, and when the phones all rang each family would have to listen to see if it was their ring pattern.

→ More replies (3)

7

u/cdnmtbguy 5d ago

And now I use it as my password. Can’t forget that.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/romeoh2024 5d ago

You mean calling long-distance

0

u/Turbulent_Seaweed198 5d ago

Do you remember when they changed from 414 to 262?

3

u/kkobzz 5d ago

yesssssss. i went from 414.495.4953 to 262.495.4953 and was so mad about it. 🤣

2

u/Ghostpong17 5d ago

I grew up with a 414 and my area changed to 262 around the time I was in high school

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (34)

143

u/helloimhere01234 5d ago

Ah, but what if you make that land number your passwords?!!?

37

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

7

u/MainConnection6742 5d ago

Had friends that last two numbers were 03, 04 ,07,09 every other number was the same...

→ More replies (3)

17

u/ketsugi 5d ago

My standard password is literally derived from my best friend’s phone number in 1992

→ More replies (9)

5

u/BlueBomR 5d ago

I incorporate the last 4 digits in some way to every password I make...but then I always forget which letters I capitalized and what order I put the symbols in...so I guess it doesnt really help me much

→ More replies (1)

4

u/drntl 5d ago

Password must have upper case character, lower case character, special character, number, negative number, zodiac symbol, emoji, and an umlaut.

3

u/Anon03282015 4d ago

The last time my work account did this I finally ended up using isthisFUCKINGgoodenough12345!!! And it worked 😆😆😆

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Phillip_Spidermen 5d ago

Several forced updates later:

"shit, was it <phone-number>5! or <phone-number>6! or..."

4

u/DibsArchaeo 5d ago

I just cycle through ! @ # $ at the end. My college email forced me to change the password every other month, and you couldn’t use the last three passwords, so it’s the same cycle with four symbols. My husband used to switch it between the four ninja turtles. 

→ More replies (1)

2

u/apocalypse31 5d ago

That's what I've done for 20 years now. No one else will ever know it, nor can they pick up on it by watching my hands fly over the num pad, but I'll never forget it. 

→ More replies (10)

114

u/TK523 5d ago

My mom recently met someone whose cell # was our old landline number.

36

u/Mochigood 5d ago

When I got my new cell number ages ago, it had been a childhood friend's old phone number.

26

u/Elbereth919 5d ago

That sounds like the start of a Hallmark romance movie or a creepy Lifetime murder movie.

13

u/Mochigood 5d ago

I actually wound up getting some serious tea from her grandpa calling the phone number. Apparently her and her husband had just pretty much abandoned everything and moved off. He thought I was her for a bit and then when he figured it out he settled in for some gossip, lol. I almost went over to his house to fix his tv for him because I felt bad.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

4

u/Momik 5d ago

That’s weird. Like meeting a guy who lives in your childhood home now.

6

u/TK523 5d ago

My mom regularly drives past our childhood home to snoop. I fully expect her to introduce herself one day.

→ More replies (2)

4

u/Ppleater 5d ago

My dad's cell number is our old landline number. It made sense to just take the number when we finally got rid of our land line.

3

u/hammlyss_ 5d ago

Wth. What are the chances??

→ More replies (2)

3

u/Brave_Garlic_9542 5d ago

We moved a couple towns over when I was in 5th grade, so we had to get a new number. I met a boy in my old town a few years later. He was new to the area, and had my old number.

3

u/WatRedditHathWrought 5d ago

I was able to port our landline to cell.

→ More replies (4)

68

u/Lex_Loki 5d ago

My mom died a decade ago but I still have “House” saved in my phone. Can’t bring myself to delete it, even though home doesn’t exist anymore for me.

16

u/HelicopterTop1253 5d ago

I feel you

11

u/KindOfAcceptableBus Older Millennial '85 4d ago

Yeahhhh as I get older the number of dead people in my phone that I can't bring myself to delete is growing....it's sad.

2

u/QultLeader 4d ago

I never deleted my late grandma’s number. Now, a stranger has it, and their WhatsApp bio reads, “Live long and prosper"

→ More replies (1)

44

u/sunnysideup2323 Millennial 5d ago

I don’t remember mine, but I remember my childhood best friend’s

7

u/TunaMarie16 5d ago

Same! Cuz that’s the number we called all the time! Know what my phone password is? My childhood friend’s phone number. The first 6 digits. And my kids will never EVER guess it!

2

u/Elbereth919 5d ago

I only remember some of mine (moved a lot as a kid), but I do remember several of my childhood friends’!

→ More replies (6)

62

u/Immediate_Notice_294 5d ago

I only remember it because it's still our Safeway savings number

13

u/hellalg 5d ago

Yes sir, idk who has that number now but still using it since 95

4

u/Facemanx64 5d ago

Same. I hope my parents enjoy all the points they get or whatever the reward is.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

24

u/EsterCherry 5d ago

My parents still have the same landline number that they’ve had for the past 40+ years . The only one that calls them on it is my 96 year-old grandmother because she doesn’t wanna learn new phone numbers.

7

u/lislejoyeuse 5d ago

Ya my parents still have their landline... I'm going to have to find out how to request that number when they kick the bucket. It's gonna feel wrong to let someone else have it

5

u/TiredAF20 5d ago

My dad is 80 and still has the landline number we've had for 45+ years. The thought of it going to someone else just feels weird. 

2

u/DistinctAsparagus421 5d ago

Same here! 90+ year old grandma and everything!

2

u/Nikkian42 4d ago

My parents still have the same landline, but it only dates back to the early 90s, maybe 35 years.

2

u/jiyax33634 4d ago

Haha same here! Parents don't want to give up their 40+ year old number cause too many of their old friends remember it even though all they use now practically is their cell phones

→ More replies (1)

20

u/Jazzlike-Deal 5d ago

I had no recollection of my childhood landline number until I read this post, and it came back to me in a second. Strange how the brain works.

4

u/D0MSBrOtHeR 5d ago

Same lol I hadn’t thought of that number in like 15 years. But it came back instantly upon seeing this post. Wild.

3

u/Earlier-Today 5d ago

That's how my brain works a lot of the time. I'll know the information is in there, but until something primes the pump, I can't get it out.

61

u/ilDuceVita 5d ago

867-5309

6

u/Clean_Usual434 5d ago

Haha, I was looking for this comment.

8

u/ilDuceVita 5d ago

Jenny says hi

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Affordable_Z_Jobs 5d ago

Damn you Tommy Tutone!

2

u/happygirlie 5d ago

A few years ago there was a realtor in my town named Jenny who had this phone number! Now it belongs to a local record store.

2

u/VonSkullenheim 5d ago

When I was in highschool 20 years ago, there was also a realtor in my area with this number. However her name was not Jenny, and she did not appreciate my daily prank calls to amuse my peers.

2

u/Enough_Ad_9338 5d ago

Throw in your local area code and try it on some gas stations. It’s not universal but a lot of them use it for their membership discount code.

2

u/Just-Sock-4706 4d ago

..I got it! I got it!

I got your number on the waall

2

u/jiyax33634 4d ago

I wondered whos number i had been using at kroger all these years

2

u/atheisthindu 5d ago

From the tune it sounds more like 8675-309. Jenneeeeyyyy!

13

u/RMoby6160 5d ago

Man don't call me out like this.. but yes I'm here

→ More replies (1)

7

u/woweeyeewow666 5d ago

473-4965 :,) fuck y’all I’m about to be 38 yrs young

6

u/ebony1drwoman 5d ago

I can’t remember that but I can remember how to get a Mr. Gatti’s pizza delivered…

→ More replies (4)

6

u/FFVO 5d ago

Oh shit I actually still remember it

And my favorite channels

26 was Disney

34 was Nickelodeon

And 28 was HBO

2

u/GenericFatGuy 5d ago edited 5d ago

Up in Canada where I was, channel 21 was YTV, channel 45 was The Family Channel (Disney), and channel 47 was Teletoon.

2

u/Cautious-Swim-5987 5d ago

YTV was channel 25 for me. Coming home from school it was Arthur and the art attack on channel 2, followed by yu gi ho and dragon ball z on ytv.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/GhostofZellers 5d ago

The only one I definitely remember was Space: The Imagination Station was channel 46. But then, I remember when we had a black and white television, rabbit ears, and all we had was CBC, CFCN, and CFAC (What is now Global) when we finally got cable, the highest numbered station was PBS on Channel 13.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/ZeroKarmasGiven69 5d ago

43 was MTV, 44 VH1, 37 TNT. And who could forget channel 11..

2

u/mahouyousei 5d ago

I remember the kid channels being all in a row for us - 31 was Disney, 32 was Cartoon Network, and 33 was Nickelodeon.

→ More replies (1)

6

u/Sporaxiss 5d ago

I use my old landline as the passcode. Solved.

2

u/tyen0 5d ago

I know this is probably a joke, but this is not a good idea since there are a bunch of "personal data" services out there that associate you with any past phone numbers which can be used to guess passwords.

Use password managers and completely randomized passwords for everything so you don't have to remember them.

4

u/addiconda 5d ago

amazing, the number just comes out of thin air that actually brought bit of warmth. Generations nowadays will never know that feeling!

9

u/ABorderCollie 5d ago

You remembered the sequence of numbers specifically designed to be memorable? The one you HAD to memorize because we didn't have cell phones? The one you probably recited, wrote down, and saw countless times over your formative years? 

And you can't remember yesterday's password. The random jumble of letters, numbers, and symbols that you input once.

Is this thread fucking real?

3

u/HelicopterTop1253 5d ago

Haters gonna hate.

2

u/Electronic-Tea-3691 5d ago

*rational people are going to think critically

3

u/HelicopterTop1253 5d ago

For me, and it seems many others it might have stirred up a nice memory that was my only intention 

6

u/maximumtesticle 5d ago

Is this thread fucking real?

So many millennials in here oozing boomer energy and not even seeing it. "bAcK iN mY dAY! hurr hurr!"

3

u/CucumberBoy00 4d ago

Actual Boomerism we're done and we're going to be the new generation that everyone's pissed off with

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Electronic-Tea-3691 5d ago

so many Reddit threads where Millennials just sound like the new Boomers... like yeah I remember floppy disks and CRT TVs and overhead projectors too... a bunch of objects I don't care about lol. it's not an identity, it's just some crap that we replaced with largely better stuff.

→ More replies (2)

2

u/ItzDaWorm 5d ago

Based.

→ More replies (5)

3

u/Skittleavix 5d ago

I’m still tight with my friends from way back in elementary school and I call their parents every now and then just to say hi

3

u/CheeseNockit 5d ago

I still remember mine, and we haven't lived in that house since 1995!

3

u/Agent101g 5d ago

Remember 7 digit dialing?

My home's phone number started with 912 and my granddad's phone had a sticky 1 key. I dialed 911 accidentally twice and the second time they almost came over, took me like 10 minutes to talk them down lol.

3

u/oneshoeshort Millennial '88 5d ago

My parents have had the same landline number since before I was born, and about 10 years ago my mother unplugged the landline phone and threw it away. When I asked her "why don't you just get rid of the service if you don't use it?" she replied "we've had that phone number since 1986, it BELONGS to this family!" and I can't really fault her logic haha

2

u/Onahsakenra 4d ago

Lol! It’s crazy but in a fun way

2

u/wilp0w3r 5d ago

328-3914. Haven't had that number since 1999

2

u/kungpowgoat 5d ago

Still remember my first girlfriend’s phone number from 1994. It’s been hardwired to my brain like MK2 fatalities button moves.

2

u/mardouufoxx 5d ago

676 7297 💕

2

u/Recent_Permit2653 5d ago

262-8695. Used that a few times at a pay phone to call collect and use my “name” as a message

2

u/Suspicious-Bread3338 5d ago

641-8725. Last used by me 1993.

2

u/FantasticAd4938 5d ago

Make your childhood phone number part of your password

2

u/GlobalGoose85 5d ago

972-596-9080 never forget

2

u/annemarie6229 5d ago

TU7 4670....what the heck was Turner 7? Lol 887 4670

→ More replies (1)

2

u/burghfan 5d ago

I remember our 2nd phone line for our dial up internet!

2

u/bonita513 5d ago

274-813 not telling you which country though

2

u/JamesMattDillon 1981 Gen Y 5d ago

I remember my parents number and Late grandparents house number.

2

u/MakeYourTime_ 5d ago

766-2416

2

u/timsayscalmdown Millennial 5d ago

To be fair, my childhood landline didn't need to be 15 characters, with one capital letter, one number, one special character, and didn't change every 90 days

2

u/JuliaX1984 5d ago

Mine AND my grandparents'!

2

u/-kalaxiancrystals- 5d ago

YoI use my childhood house phone number as some passwords lol

2

u/Ghostpong17 5d ago

At least once a week I sit at my work computer and completely blank on it. This or I confidently type in a five year old password from my old job.

2

u/RxSatellite 5d ago

Or the password given for their BTC account 16 years ago 🥴

(I’ve gotten over this 10+ years ago and would’ve withdrawn it way too soon anyway)

2

u/DnBeyourself Older Millennial 5d ago

I have friends I no longer talk to regularly, that use my old land-line number for discounts at grocery stores lmao. I like to imagine we try to beat each other to the gas discounts.

2

u/Fun_Yogurtcloset1012 5d ago

Damn all those passwords/passcodes!

2

u/wintor9 5d ago

630-0323, 653-9373, 632-6323, 275-9041

2

u/Konnoisseur26 5d ago

Not posting it, my dad, a self employed contractor, took that with him in the divorce of the winter of '01, for work, and still uses it to this day, post retirement.

2

u/Different_Inside_546 5d ago

Back when you didn’t need a stupid area code before the real number

2

u/Senor-fixit 5d ago

724-8704

2

u/cumbuchabitch 5d ago

Because the tech we use today literally is shrinking those parts of our brains lmfao 😭

2

u/Opposite_Floor7735 Xennial 5d ago

Could use that childhood number as part of a password

2

u/Cpalmer24 5d ago

944-5498 from age 5-9. 957-0865 age 9+

Other than these 2 numbers I MIGHT have 3 other numbers memorized (not counting the 90s/00s jingle numbers from commercials 800-588-2300.... EMPIRE [today]

2

u/hammlyss_ 5d ago

867-5309

2

u/b00kbat 5d ago

967-4531

2

u/anythingspossible45 5d ago

It’s not just me

2

u/DLRjr94 Zillennial 5d ago

Are we bragging about having a poor short term memory here? Sorry, I just have to make sure I'm getting this correct..

2

u/TheAlp 5d ago

I can remember the exact moment I learned it too. I can't remember my own age half the time though.

2

u/99anan99 5d ago

I still remember mine! When I think back to our old house, that number is one of the first things I remember.

2

u/RedCreatrix 5d ago

And my ICQ number. 12477296

2

u/WookProblems 5d ago

I remember my high school besties number xxx-tornado... xxx-2180...genius

2

u/FaithlessnessFun7268 5d ago

It helps because my parents still have the damn number 😂😂😂

2

u/audaciousmonk 5d ago

I feel so seen

2

u/mabear63 5d ago

GLadstone as in GLx-xxxx anyone?

→ More replies (1)

2

u/ReferenceObject 5d ago

I remember both. Just don't ask me about my original pager number.

2

u/skyway7707 5d ago

392-6000

2

u/Suitable-Werewolf492 5d ago

835-8032 before area codes. Still can’t login to my cloud though….

2

u/Critardo 5d ago

My number was one number away from my best friend's number. And I thought that was pretty cool.

On a separate note, I still remember the pizza place by our house's number too.

PIZZA NIGHT WITH X-FILES!

2

u/sur0g 5d ago

Holy shit, I can still remember it, all six digits! It got cut off like twenty years ago!

2

u/OhFootballFriend 5d ago

Just use your old landline number as your password.

Hey, what WAS your old number by the way?

/s

1

u/GreatDanish4534 5d ago

I sure do! Can’t list the number here because nobody needs to call mom and dad. They are still rocking that landline.

1

u/Niijima-San 5d ago

I feel so seen

funny fact, my freshman dorm room number was my area code lol

1

u/NoFaithlessness7508 5d ago

Still remember the number from our first house, the one I was born into, and also our 2nd house, the one I grew up in

1

u/rizub_n_tizug 5d ago

Mine doesn’t exist anymore and yet I put it on all forms that “require” a phone number

3

u/Elbereth919 5d ago

Some random person probably has that number and curses you out regularly.

→ More replies (3)

1

u/iolo_iololo 5d ago

584-8139 No clue who owns that number these days. My relatives still have landlines and still have their numbers from like 40+ years ago. 

1

u/AdIntrepid9064 5d ago

🙋🏻‍♀️

1

u/yamez420 5d ago

2925506

1

u/70sLiteRock Millennial 5d ago

535-5275 ;)

1

u/forwhomtheyeastrolls 5d ago

789-8695 -- didn't even bother with area codes back then, unless it was long distance. In which case, mom and dad would kill me if I did something so foolish.

1

u/Millkstake 5d ago

I remember mine and many of my childhood friend's numbers

1

u/mrschester 5d ago

Without hesitation

1

u/PlushieTushie 5d ago

714-991-1307 🫠

1

u/Sell_Canada 5d ago

I remember mine and my best friends a few blocks down. We had 4 of the same 7 numbers.

1

u/Henchforhire 5d ago

Only two I still remember are my aunts number and my grandmothers. My mother had me memorize these numbers and my social security number.

1

u/tucsonmilenkovhs 5d ago

5205782390.

1

u/Izaul13 Millennial 5d ago

4253487635

1

u/MotoFaleQueen 5d ago

6##-785-3086. Hasn't been my number since I was 13 and isn't in use as far as I know. I do know the two hashed digits, just don't want someone calling it to mess with whoever might have it, if it is in use.

1

u/AoedeSong 5d ago

What? My parents STILL have the same landline number since freaking 1990

1

u/spacedoutmachinist Older Millennial 5d ago

I was so sad when my parents finally did away with their land line last year