What happens when you don’t know the number for poison control?
All my childhood a typed list
of important phone numbers
lived next to the beige phone
attached to the hallway wall.
Friends and neighbors’ names
beside five digit numbers (family nine)
Separate numbers for fire and
ambulance and poison control.
Today’s phone always in reach
lists contacts by name and often image
the algorithm declares importance
with frequency and recency bias
My favorites are Noah…Tod…Mom
and most frequent is Melini Cucina
Fighting for top billing with co-workers.
That sounds about right.
We recently received an alert that our local 9-11 service was down. It was down almost 24 hours. I was not worried as I have a magnet on my refrigerator left over from my reporter days with a direct number for the local police. But I am just a little worried given the state of the world that I do not have the number for poison control.
4 thoughts on "What happens when you don’t know the number for poison control?"
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yes we had that list too
as a kid I couldn’t decide
if it made me feel good
or bad
I do wish I had even a photo of that list because it is such a snapshot in time.
As we rely ever more on the electronic, we leave ourselves open for destruction should the grid ever go down a few months. No phones at all, and paper will again be precious. Nice writing, Deanna.
Thanks! It is worth reflecting on what we lose through “progress.”