A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that publishes the directory. Its purpose is to allow the telephone number of a subscriber identified by name and address to be found.
The advent of the Internet, search engines, and smartphones in the 21st century greatly reduced the need for a paper phone book.[1][2] Some communities, such as Seattle and San Francisco, sought to ban their unsolicited distribution as wasteful, unwanted and harmful to the environment.[3][4]
The slogan "Let Your Fingers Do the Walking" refers to use of phone books.[1]
- ^ a b "Phone books used as truck fuel in Fla". New York Post. 15 June 1992. p. 9.
- ^ By 1992 one phone company, which had collected 58,000 tons of old phone books, recycled them by converting them to fuel for some of their trucks.
- ^ Yellow Pages ruling endangers SF ban, Heather Knight, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 October 2012; retrieved 19 March 2013
- ^ Appeals court rules against Seattle's curbs on yellow pages, Emily Heffter, Seattle Times, 15 October 2012; retrieved 19 March 2013