Who still uses pagers and why did they explode in Lebanon?

As dozens are injured in Lebanon after their pagers exploded, you may be wondering who is still using the retro devices in the era of smartphones and AI.

For those too young to remember, pagers are small beepers that you usually wear on your belt. They are wireless communication devices that receive radio signals from short or long-range paging networks. They are still used in places that need to function without mobile signal or wifi.

In the UK they are most commonly used in hospitals, with a 2017 BMJ study finding that the devices have remained the top form of communication in the last 25 years, despite the introduction of new technology. Doctors and nurses often turn to these devices to send updates or patient information to other members of a hospital’s staff without fear of internet troubles or no signal.

Pagers are handy for workers in remote locations, such as oil rigs and mines. Restaurants also use them too, often handing patrons blinking, hockey puck-like contraptions that vibrate when your table or food is ready.

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The use of pagers has become increasingly common for the members of Hezbollah. The group ordered over 3,000 pagers from Gold Apollo, The New York Times reported. The group moved from smartphones to pagers earlier this year in an attempt to avoid having its communications intercepted by Israel, professor and regional security expert Amer Al Sabaileh told The New York Times.

Invented by Al Gross, regarded by some as the “founding father” of wireless communication, he patented the pager in 1949 intending to make it available to doctors. But they were not impressed with the idea of being on-call 24 hours a day.

Mr Gross said: “The doctors wanted to have nothing to do with it because it would disturb their golf game or it would disturb the patient. So it wasn't a success, as I thought it would be when it was first introduced. But that changed later.”

By the 1980s, millions of Americans used pagers, according to reports at the time. The devices were status symbols that should the wearer was important enough to be, in effect, on call at a moment's notice. Doctors, lawyers, movie stars and journalists wore them through the 1990s.

But pagers also became associated with drug dealers and schools were cracking down. More than 50 school districts in the USA banned their use in schools, saying they hampered the fight to control drug abuse among teenagers, The New York Times reported in 1988.

By the mid-90s, there were more than 60 million beepers in use worldwide, according to Spok, a communications company. Now, just a small but persistent few still use the one-way communicator, while the rest of us stick with the all knowing smartphone.