--- title: "From ‘outdated’ to ‘wow, dated!’: Some consumers reconnect with old-school tech - The Hustle" description: Pagers and flip phones won’t hit the junkyard without a fight. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/618645161-httpsthe-hustle.hubspot.comhubfsDaily20Newsletter20ImagesMay2023202023pager_graphic.webp --- # From ‘outdated’ to ‘wow, dated!’: Some consumers reconnect with old-school tech ![Jacob Cohen](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png?width=48&height=48&name=IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png) [Jacob Cohen](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/jacob-cohen) [Jacob Cohen Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/ImJacobCohen) Published: June 03, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 For those of you who crave cringey ‘90s commercials with unforgivably forced punchlines: Today’s your [lucky day](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNiUfGscaXk). ![pagers in use by year](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/618645161-httpsthe-hustle.hubspot.comhubfsDaily20Newsletter20ImagesMay2023202023pager_graphic.webp?width=595&height=400&name=618645161-httpsthe-hustle.hubspot.comhubfsDaily20Newsletter20ImagesMay2023202023pager_graphic.webp) Son: “Dad, I want a pager. I’m never gonna take it to school, and your pages come first.” Dad: “You’d do that for me? Would you do something else for me? *Shave*.” #### **Oof…** Sure, pagers had their moments with teens, businesspeople, and doctors, and are certainly past their prime. But they’re not obsolete — not even close, according to *The Wall Street Journal*. For today’s doctors, studies show phones have overtaken pager use, though there are still many who use the one-way, beeping communication devices, and, uh, [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@docschmidt/video/6994941631065558278) about them, too. Spok, a US company that makes pagers and other communication technology for health care providers, says [800k+](https://www.wsj.com/articles/still-use-pagers-to-avoid-technology-burnout-1296d6e0?mod=djemalertNEWS) of its pagers are in use today, down from 6.6m in 2004. - In total, Spok, whose stock is up ~56% year-to-date, helps staff at 2.2k+ hospitals send 100m+ messages every month. In Q1, among the company’s ~$33.2m in revenue, $18.5m came from paging. #### **Flipping off the past** In recent years, many tech oldies have returned as consumer goodies. Relative Google search interest in disposable cameras was far greater in 2022 than in 2004; Samsung is out there pushing its Galaxy Z Flip phones; heck, we’ve done a [deep dive](https://thehustle.co/the-insane-resurgence-of-vinyl-records/) on the resurgence of vinyl. The lessons here: First, keep holding on to that iPod Shuffle in the nostalgia box under your bed. Second, watch yourself some ‘90s and ‘00s [commercials](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9BUC2QbYYU) — there’s just something about those Betty Crocker ads that hit different. 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