Why Students 50 Years Ago Couldn’t Live Without This Mysterious Space

At one point in time, people couldn’t just pull their phones out to see how their friends or family were doing. Those were the days when one had to deposit coins into a payphone, twirl the dial and wait for the line to connect before hearing that sweet voice at the other end of the line. To many especially college students of the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, the ‘phone booth’ was not just a utility but a small quiet place of escape from the hustle and bustle of the college dorms.

Have you ever stood in front of the old college dorms and see these odd little niches with a light bulb above and sometimes a shelf where the telephone used to be? These were not just the forgotten niches; these were phone booths or phone niches which were once a vital component of social interaction in the campus. Students from all over the country flocked these booths and make important calls to their parents, report to their parents or talk to friends in the middle of the night. In an era when there was no such thing as a ‘cell phone’ these boxes were the only link with civilization.

This was the era of change for telecommunication industry, particularly in the 1960s and the 1970s. As some households started getting their private phones, the public payphones still played an important role especially in crowded places such as dormitories. Most of the students were from different parts of the country and their parents could only hear from them once in a while through a phone call. That is where these booths proved very useful. Some spaces are noisy and full of many people, for example, dormitories which are usually filled with numerous distractions. This was an advantage to students since they were able to make calls:=Having a small place to make the calls meant that the students were able to get some privacy even if it was for a few minutes.