PSA (without guitars)

i remember when i first got a cell phone. someone told me that area codes are now irrelevant. i thought this was a great idea, putting the area coderati in their place. but it's funny the nostalgia people have. we started a [612-Bitch] listserv on yahoo for (mostly) 612 expatriates. furthermore, over in martha's vineyard having a 508 area code is a badge of prestige over the newer 774 (or is it the other way around). nevertheless there is a waiting list to get the older code. i even had a friend tell me i should get a NYC cell phone soon before the 917 numbers are all taken and i'd have to settle for a lousy 646. and here i thought 646 was the more mellifluous number. it's palindromic for chritsake.

but i'm sticking to good ole 612 simply cuz it's an easy number to know. but that's not to say it hasn't caused a bit of conversation if not consternation in my new city. to the younger crowd, they say "that's a great number, how did you get that!" to which i explain that i just went to verizon and that's what they gave me. however the older set seems to scratch their head saying "why don't you get a local number" then i must explain the obsolescence of area codes. in short 10 digits are the new 7.

sorry for the digression, today's forum is addressing the larger issue of dialing 1 as a long-distance predicate. as we previously established, area codes have been naturalized into the citizenry of telecommunications. however it seems that people lack the greater leap to dropping the 1, which has effectively become arbitrary. i'll barrow my phone to someone, then get it back full of 1+10-digit-#s. and this is not an age-specific phenomenon, it's just an antiquated view of "long distance."

the thing about it is, this is one of the few instances where our lives will require less information, and it is to be embraced. when VoiP takes off, as it inevitably will, there will be international codes to remember and to be programed into these prisons we call cells. but luckily for us in the USA, we'll just have to dial 001 to reach each other.