Rotary Phone Stumps Teens In Hysterical Video That’s Gone Viral

Seventeen-year-old cousins Jake and Kyle Bumstead were presented with a rotary phone and then were playfully challenged to figure out how to use it in less than four minutes.

Jake’s dad, Kevin Bumstead, of Chicago, Illinois, decided he would record the kids and the video has since gone viral. The video has been viewed on Bumstead’s Facebook page more than 16 million times.

“My money was on them not figuring it out,” Bumstead told WISN-TV.

Bumstead explained that he had watched a similar video on YouTube and decided to try it with his own family.

“I thought it would be funny to see how my kids and their cousins handled this challenge at Christmas. So I divided them up by age group (24, 22, 22) (19 & 19) these 2 (17 & 17) and (14 and 12) and gave them the phone number and 4 minutes to dial the phone,” he explained. “These two were the most entertaining and they took the longest and sort of figured it out.”

The oldest three relatives knew exactly what to do. The 19-year-olds took a bit longer to figure it out, but they eventually did. The 14- and 12-year-old girls used the rotary phone in less than 90 seconds because they had rotary phone toys as little girls. But Jake and Kyle were the most comical to watch and people around the world are loving it.

https://www.facebook.com/kevin.bumstead.5/videos/10211342373829153/

The boys are completely baffled by this contraption. Bumstead challenged them to dial a phone number and call someone in four minutes. Teens nowadays have grown up with touch screen mobile phones, so grasping the receiver and lifting it off the phone cradle proved to be incredibly confusing.

They needed to spin the rotary dial to the numbers they wished to dial, but they just couldn’t figure out in enough time. In fact, it took them almost one minute to discern that you have to use a finger and spin it all the way around just to log one single digit.

They lifted the receiver, but set it back down in the cradle before they ever dialed the number. Another adult explained 90 seconds into the challenge that while they had correctly dialed zero, they hadn’t figured out how to dial any other numbers.

“You guys have made it all worth it. Everyone has struggled like you have,” a man said.

About two-and-a-half minutes into the challenge, one of the boys asked an important question that makes former rotary phone users chuckle.

“Wait a minute. Are we supposed to pick up the phone and then do it?” he asked.

A female can be heard suggesting that they place the handset up their ear and listen for the dial tone.

With just 35 seconds left, one of the teens asked a comical question.

“What’s with all the holes though?” he queried.

The adult replied, “That’s such a great question.”

Just when it seemed as if the boys might figure out how to use the rotary phone in less than four minutes, time ran out. They at least were great sports about it and viewers have gotten a kick out of it, too.

“They’re really enjoying their 15 seconds of fame,” Bumstead said. “Even though they kinda look like goofballs, they’re enjoying it.”