theatlantic:

Pay Phones: A Technology for the Poor That’s About to Get Left Hanging

They stand on street corners and in airports like miniature museum exhibits of another era. Who needs a pay phone anymore? We have our smartphones; they do so much more and they fit in our pockets.

But that doesn’t mean pay phones have run their course in the world. For people who are down on their luck, public pay phones are the phones they’ve got — and without any pocket change, you can still call the toll-free lines of social-service agencies, which, operators say, is where many pay-phone calls go, according to a report in USA Today by Janine Zeitlin. […]

Some of the demand for pay phones comes at airports where, presumably, international travelers don’t have Amercan cell phones. But much comes from places serving a less fortunate demographic: correctional facilities, transitional housing, substance-abuse-recovery centers, homeless shelters, jails, and prisons.

Read more. [Image: markhillary/Flickr]