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The Dial Comes To Town

PVid881 HN recommenders · 2021–2026
1.2M views · documentary · evergreen · Uploaded 2012-12-14

A 1940 Bell Telephone educational short teaching customers how to use their new dial phones and why the change was happening. It is a period piece about rolling out a new technology to ordinary people.

Cited as a charming example of the effort once made to teach the public a new technology, in threads about phones and teaching seniors.

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4 comments from Hacker News

@tzs2021 · in “Making VoIP Calls with Antique Rotary Phones”

For those who don't know how to use a rotary dial phone, here is a 1940 educational movie by Bell Telephone they made to teach customers about this new technology [1]. [1] [VIDEO]

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@nitwit0052025 · in “I spent the day teaching seniors how to use an iPhone”

Telephones only seem intuitive because we got taught to use them as kids. If you look back, there was a massive effort to teach people to use them. You can still find some of the educational films: [VIDEO]

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@21432026 · in “Apple WWDC 2026 Livestream”

I think this “awesome”, “amazing”, “super exciting” phase came much later than the moon walking era. Remember it’s been over 50 years since humans walked on the moon. Much has changed. See these old videos, where people talk in a straightforward way: Car transmission [LINK] How to dial your phone [LINK] The dial comes to town [VIDEO] Now go watch that Apple video again and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

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@Stratoscope2026 · in “How RCA Victor sold Sound Service to classrooms in 1939”

The Bell System did this when dial telephone service was first introduced. They held town meetings with a giant rotary dial onstage where someone explained it and demonstrated how to dial your calls. And they made an instructional film about it! [VIDEO]

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