Jun 30, 2026 · 28 min · 11 segments
Are we better at communicating than we used to be back in the day? We can send a message across the world in seconds, stay in constant contact, and never be more than a phone call away. But are all…
Barbara ScullyGuestShane Daniel ByrneGuest
Sean MoncriefHost
What was that like then? You had a phone in the house, maybe? One phone, one phone in the house, in the hall.
I grew up with three brothers, but I did spend endless hours sitting on the last step of the stairs, like most people, on the phone to friends for hours and hours and hours and hours.
I know I used to come in from school particularly when I was in secondary school and I used to walk home from school get home at about half four and by five o'clock very often I was on the phone to my best mate who I'd just left because we were in the same class at school together and I remember my father coming in from work and he used to go mental and he used to say to me who are you talking to and I'd go I'm talking to Rita and he'd go you just left her like half an hour ago what the hell have you got to talk to her about because of course back then calls cost money so like can I
So it was when, you know, you had to get through all the gossip of the day and all the rest of it.
But, yeah, I mean, my parents would have been very conscious of the fact that you were costing them a fortune.
yeah and were you did you and your friends expect to call each other would there have been if you hadn't phoned Rita that evening would Rita have said the next day what the hell
yeah no I think there was just like again I'm trying to think back there wasn't anything else to do do you know what I mean Like if you weren't talking to your mate, there was nothing to watch on the telly because, you know, it was all serious stuff and there was probably nothing on.
So, you know, if you weren't reading a book, you were talking to your mate on the phone.
What was that like then? You had a phone in the house, maybe? One phone, one phone in the house, in the hall.
I grew up with three brothers, but I did spend endless hours sitting on the last step of the stairs, like most people, on the phone to friends for hours and hours and hours and hours.
I know I used to come in from school particularly when I was in secondary school and I used to walk home from school get home at about half four and by five o'clock very often I was on the phone to my best mate who I'd just left because we were in the same class at school together and I remember my father coming in from work and he used to go mental and he used to say to me who are you talking to and I'd go I'm talking to Rita and he'd go you just left her like half an hour ago what the hell have you got to talk to her about because of course back then calls cost money so like can I
So it was when, you know, you had to get through all the gossip of the day and all the rest of it.
But, yeah, I mean, my parents would have been very conscious of the fact that you were costing them a fortune.
yeah and were you did you and your friends expect to call each other would there have been if you hadn't phoned Rita that evening would Rita have said the next day what the hell
yeah no I think there was just like again I'm trying to think back there wasn't anything else to do do you know what I mean Like if you weren't talking to your mate, there was nothing to watch on the telly because, you know, it was all serious stuff and there was probably nothing on.
So, you know, if you weren't reading a book, you were talking to your mate on the phone.
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