I didn't have an Atari either. Or color tv until the early '80s when the old B&W tv finally blew up. I actually vaguely remember party lines from my elementary schools days (I lived in a small town - I'm sure they were long gone in the big city by then). If you wanted to make a phone call you had to use the annoying ROTARY phone (which my parent kept until the early '90s when I convinced my Mom that a cordless phone was soooo much better than wandering around the house with a 25' long phone cord!).

Oh, goodness. I sound like my Dad!