Until I was maybe 35-40 I felt obligated to answer every ring....then one day I just did not answer..and have been free from that demand ever since.

There were no answering machines, no call logs, no voice mail, not even last called dialback *69. The phone wasn't even "yours". It BELONGED to the phone company.

If it rang you tipped over furniture if need be to pick it up. Hopefully before the dreaded fourth ring.

This was also back in the day when shower heads had a device inside that sounded like your phone ringing in the other room. But only if you had a head full of shampoo, there was no towel,...and the blinds were up.