Why 17 Million Telegrams Are Still Sent Every Year

Video written by Adam Chase

[iafozzac]

You failed to mention that two thirds of those yearly telegrams are sent in Italy alone because it's considered the standard way to offer condolences

[schlachthaus]

When a Japanese friend died suddenly, I sent a telegram of condolence to his family. Apparently a telegram from abroad (and especially from the United States) is considered an honor by the recipient and an excellent way for the sender to show their respect for the deceased and their family.

[jovanweismiller]

My first job out of high school was microfilming old newspapers. When I was filming papers from the 1860s, it was easy to spot when the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable was completed. Suddenly, the dateline on European stories dropped from being two weeks in the past to being the day before publication.

[OhioCentralModeler]

Pagers aren't dead, virtually all hospitals still use them to get a hold of doctors for some inexplicable reason (at least in the US).

[Linkmon]

Anyone else shocked that in the mid 1800s they laid a telegram line ACROSS THE ENTIRE ATLANTIC OCEAN.. and IT WORKED?! That alone needs to be a video

[kaleb]

I’m not sure if it’s still accurate but a few years ago, it was still possible to request or update your leave via telegram in the US military. Apparently some guy read the regulations and sent his commander a telegram for his leave.

[AnonymousFreakYT]

Would it surprise you to learn that pagers are still alive and well? Specifically in medical settings. The main reason is that the radio frequencies used by pagers can pass through thick walls *FAR* easier than the frequencies used by cell phones. So people who work in hospitals - which tend to be giant cell phone no-signal-zones - still use pagers.

[tncorgi]

Shortest telegram (s) ever: Victor Hugo to his publisher, wondering how his book "Les Miserables" was selling, inquired "?". His publisher replied "!"

[SantiagoAntonutti]

Argentina uses telegrams for when you quit your job, specifically because its faster than a letter and it's a legal document, if the other part wanted to sue. Still pretty unnecessary

[Bytewave]

The ARRL National Traffic System also exists, and is similar to telegraphs (although it operates over radio rather than discrete wires). Amateur radio operators send so-called "radiograms" to one another fairly often, although lead times on delivery can be up to a few days.

[LucasL]

I would have liked a better explaination about the practical side of the telegrams. Are the telegraph lines still operational, or do they use the internet? And how is the message delivered to you? Does some kid come running to you yelling out "A telegram for you sir/madam!"?

[mittensfastpaw]

Reminds me of how faxes are still in use and especially in schools. Despite it literally just being the same these days as a attachment to an email. One of which is much faster and more secure.

[flamingash]

"so he could be there with his wife, the next time she died" LMAO

[Ishan.khanna]

probably because everyone would laugh at 16.9 million telegrams

[CCLFan]

1:40 -- "Are thou up?" should be "Art thou up?" because "art" is the informal second person present tense conjugation for "to be" because "thou" is the informal second person pronoun in English which was basically replaced by the formal "you".

This is really obscure but I've never caught one of these before. Love you Sam! You're the best! 😄

[drax]

So according to Wikipedia Italy is responsible for over two thirds of the worldwide telegrams sent. "Poste Italiane still offers telegram service. Around 12.5 million telegrams are sent annually.[13]"

What the heck are we doing with those??

[EebstertheGreat]

There are supposedly still over 2 million pagers in use, and there may be close to a million people still using dial-up just in the U.S. So those things are actually kind of like the telegram. The difference is that dial-up and pagers still serve their intended purposes and are essential for some people. Telegrams have no practical value. They cannot be sent to locations near you, because virtually all of them have closed, so telegrams are just sent wherever and then brought by the USPS like normal mail. The only advantages then are weird legal trivia and a sort of faux historic romanticism.

[ShortHax]

I couldn’t be the only one who first thought it was the amount of messages sent in the Telegram app

[stankythecat]

The concept of the first under sea cable still blows my mind. It’s the fing ocean… it’s wild they managed to pull it off

[donna]

The best reason for doctors and other emergency responders to use pagers rather than cellphones is that pagers are not usually subject to spam/robo calls. A pager can be left on while one's cellphone is muted, turned off, or in Do Not Disturb mode.