Stumbled on a blog that just posts photos of old, broken payphones

I was looking for some city history stuff about Chicago and found this blog called 'Out of Order'. It's literally just pictures of dead payphones, one post a day. The guy has been doing it for over two years. I thought it was the most pointless thing, but I kept clicking. After a month, I started noticing them everywhere I walked. It completely changed how I look at my own neighborhood. Who else gets hooked on these weirdly specific blogs?

2 comments

2 Comments

blakefox1mo ago

Call that a waste of time, honestly. It sounds like the most boring thing ever and I don't get the appeal. Focusing on broken old junk just makes everything seem sad and run down. I'd rather look at things that are new and working, stuff that shows progress. That blog would just make me feel bad about the city, not see it in some new way. I don't need a daily photo of trash to make my walk interesting.

kevin_roberts411mo ago

Honestly, that's the whole point. I read an article once about how these dead objects are like little time capsules. That blog isn't about trash, it's about finding the spots where a whole system just gave up and got left behind. You see the graffiti on the receiver, the weeds growing through the cord, the sticker for a band that broke up ten years ago. It's not sad, it's just what's there. Makes you notice the layers of a place you normally walk right past.