Why do doctors still use pagers?

For most people, the pager represents a sad, humorous relic of the past—a reminder of the primitive time before cellphones, Google, and the Twitterverse. But for doctors like me, pagers are still an important part of everyday life. It's estimated that about 85 percent of hospitals still rely on pagers for communication, and during a recent episode of post-call delirium, I wondered why. The first pagers—hefty 6-ounce boxes—were introduced to physicians in New York City in 1950. Over the next four decades, the device became a status symbol both inside and outside of the medical profession; after all, wearing one meant you were so in-demand you needed to be reachable anytime, anywhere.