Believe it or not, some Canadians still receive phonebooks in the mail

Some Canadians are receiving the latest phonebooks in the mail, but experts say it’s only a matter of time until that ends. Paul Hollingsworth reports.

Halifax resident Corrine Maclellan received the latest version of the city’s phonebook in the mail.

“We took it out of the mailbox, walked home with it and threw it right in the recycling bin,” said Maclellan.

Since the advent of the internet, published paper phonebooks have become less common. They’ve been discontinued in many Canadian cities, but they are still sent out in Nova Scotia.

But even so, Mike McJannet hasn’t used one in 20 years.

“There are different ways of doing things today,” said McJannet.

Phonebooks are shrinking in size and are slowly being phased out.

“I think probably in another two or three years, we won’t see phone books anymore,” said digital anthropologist Giles Crouch.

CTV News reached to Yellow Pages, the company that produces the phonebook in Nova Scotia, to ask how much longer they will be produced, but we did not receive a response.

Crouch said these days, phone listings can be found online, making the books redundant.

“Any single-use technology that can be replaced by digital technology will be replaced by it,” he said.

Crouch said the same online technology has changed many aspects of our lives.

Even hardcopy instruction manuals and other paper products are being phased out by smartphone QR codes.

“You can also use them for a menu at a restaurant,” said Crouch. “We saw that a lot during the pandemic. And you can also use them to do two-factor authentication for safety.”

Seniors advocate Bill VanGorder wonders: with hardcopies of phonebooks, paper manuals and menus slowly being phased out, what does that mean for people who don’t have access to smart phones or the internet?

VanGorder said close to 30 per cent of Canadian seniors are not online, which means many still rely on phonebooks.

“The problem for them is their children—the people they want to call—all have cellphones, and those numbers aren’t in the phone book,” said VanGorder.

He wants seniors to adapt to digital technology to maintain their independence and social connections.