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redabishai t1_j2sant2 wrote

Reply to comment by tlklk in The Laws of UX - beautiful website explaining 21 rules for effective UX design by Quackerooney

I've heard this is why phone numbers are 7 digits. Not sure how true that is.

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GreatAndPowerfulNixy t1_j2scnul wrote

They're 10 now

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manzanita2 t1_j2siggw wrote

except most people only need to deal with a few prefixes so those are usually "chunked" into one. I'd argue for 8 "things".

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chairfairy t1_j2t9fkm wrote

Before cell phones you didn't learn that many area codes, though. Because that would be a long distance call so for the most part you just learned the base 7 digits

^(867-5309)

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moonra_zk t1_j2sizw8 wrote

Phone number length is based on how many different numbers you need, that's why they added more digits over time.

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redabishai t1_j2skgje wrote

Of course. I remember in the 90s in New England they started using the area code for local calls.

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foospork t1_j2sr7a2 wrote

IIRC, the phone system was modified in the 90s to allow multiple area codes in one geographic area.

As late as the late 1970s, in some areas, if you were calling a different number in the same exchange, all you had to dial was the last 4 digits. For example, if your number was 555-1212 and you wanted to call 555-1234, all you had to dial was 1234.

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Dakar-A t1_j2sdd2r wrote

Doubtful. It's also chunks of information, not just pure units- you remember 695 432 0118 better than if I had asked you to recall 6, 9, 5, 4, 3, 2, 0, 1, 1, and 8.

Or if I asked you to remember "may boat horse" versus "a a b e h m o o r s t y"

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