Attention, Lubbock: You Must Dial All 10 Digits Starting October

Here's a pain in the cell that you may not have been expecting.

If you have someone's name programmed into your phone with just seven numbers, get ready for some error messages. On October 25th, seven-digit numbers become a thing of the past

Sure, it's no big deal once you have those numbers in the phone, but if someone just tells you a number, that's three more digits to hang onto which is a bit much for someone like me who can't remember why he came into a room.

This new dialing procedure is being launched in the 806, 254, 361, 409, 830, 915, and 940 area codes. Things are changing for local calls only. If you're calling someone who is out of town and has already been using their area code, then nothing changes (you will still do the 1 + area code + number).

This all seems simple and no big deal, correct? Well, think about this; if you have security, fax machines, or other devices set to "auto-dial," you need to remember to reprogram those as well. All humans, beasts, and machines will now need to use the 10-digit sequence.

It's also important to point out that this should not change any of your billing, because a local call is still a local call.

Somehow all of this is tied in with the new three-digit suicide prevention hotline at 988. If you'd like to read about all of this in a much more boring format, you can do that here.