Will you miss the Yellow Pages?

I hesitate to think how many trees were consumed in producing the old yellow pages, general telephone directories,Next catalogue, RS Components (boxed sets)………. I do miss Axminster Tools catalogue though that I could flick through and choose the right tool or fitment – much nicer than trawling through an online search.

Our diminutive Yellow Pages – a shadow of its former self – has just alighted under the letterbox. Unlikely to be used. But the question is often raised about those who do not have internet access – what will they now do? This “underclass” is often cited to criticise on-line offers that make life cheaper and easier for the privileged.

Who misses out?
90% of households have internet access. Of the remaining 10%, 2% have internet access elsewhere, 6.4% feel they don’t need it, 2% feel they lack the necessary skills.
“Internet access varies depending on household composition. While nearly all households with children had an internet connection in 2017 (98%), access to the internet by single-adult households varied, depending on the age of the responder. For households with one adult aged 65 and over, 61% had internet access. In contrast, 88% of households with only one adult aged 16 to 64 years had internet access. The vast majority of households with internet access had fixed broadband (93%). Mobile broadband via mobile phone networks was used by 26% of households as an internet connection.”

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/householdcharacteristics/homeinternetandsocialmediausage/bulletins/internetaccesshouseholdsandindividuals/2017

So it seems the lowest (relatively speaking) take up is among the single over 65s – around 1.4 million without access at home. Many of these will be people with all their faculties but, maybe, not having been educated with computing at school or in work, have not got to grips with it. In the olden days you could go to “night school” to pick up useful skills; sadly this seems to have declined and become expensive. Perhaps it needs resurrecting? The internet is here to stay.

It is years since I last used Yellow Pages or the phone directory. They are put in a drawer to replace the previous versions. At one time we were forbidden from putting Yellow Pages in the recycling bin, but this is allowed nowadays.

Local businesses advertise in the village magazine, a free newspaper and various other local magazines that drop through the letterbox. These are occasionally useful but almost all the information I need is online.

I hope someone will keep some examples of Yellow Pages to look at in years to come. My mother kept a copy of the phone book from when we lived in a small village in Scotland. Our number was 163, and it was before nuisance calls were invented.

This comment was removed at the request of the user

The most important point has already been made: what if the computer ceases to work and all one’s info is lost?
This has happened to me on several occasions – so now I keep paper copies of everything.
The Yellow Pages is another such insurance for those (inevitable) occasions.

Yellow pages has been disappearing for a number of year, I have just received the latest edition. Yellow pages used to be A4 in size but the size has shrunk from A4 to A5 over the last few years. Under name finder I struggle to read an address, it should come with a magnifying glass.

Last years edition was also A5 in size with 328 pages this years edition has shrunk in volume to 200 pages at this rate in 16 months time there will be Zero pages anyway. I think that even I can rip a directory in half now without having to call on Geoff Capes for help.

I must admit that before the internet I used to use yellow pages quite frequently but I cannot remember the last time I used it, out of interest I did try and lookup a local supplier but they were not in the directory, I had to Google it.

Sad to see it go but I am not surprised the last time I used the Yellow Pages was when there was a power cut it’s just quicker to search on-line.

sites like Pinease will take over .