PAGERS, CODES LATEST TEEN CRAZE (2024)

Once, at like two in the morning or something, Stephen Kling was awakened by the pulsing tones of his pager.

The 14-year-old fumbled for the plastic chunk of technology that links him to the world and groggily read the message 189 glowing on the display panel.

``That means somebody wants to kill you,' says the high school sophom*ore from Concord, Calif. ``Lots of people do prank calls. They get your pager number and make the calls.'

The message, 189, is the California Penal Code number for murder, but it's refined to become part of the pager lexicon, a combination of letters and numbers that can pack a lot of meaning into the two-dozen or so spaces available on a beeper.

``You'd be surprised at how much of a message you can say if you use the codes,' says 14-year-old Alysha Umphress, of Martinez, Calif., who has honed her pager skills during the six months she has owned one. ``Different numbers mean different things; then you can have numbers for each of your friends and lots of stuff like that.'

If you've been living off in the mossy wilderness somewhere, you may be a bit surprised to find telephone pagers have become as much a part of teen fashion as tennis shoes with three-figure price tags and back packs that serve as mobile homes.

Ask kids about beepers being part of the culture of drugs and thugs and you get an upward eye-roll, the universal adolescent sign for, ``you are hopelessly out of date.'

Several years ago, beepers started popping up on the belts of youths in urban schools, and there was fairly decent evidence to indicate the kids were using them for nothing particularly legal. Almost overnight, the tiny device that once summoned doctors from theaters and lawyers from dinners became the devil's tool, a tool for drug dealing, burglary and all manner of criminal evil.

But, in the end, a pager is only a hunk of technology, neither good nor bad. And, as it turns out, something that fits in well with modern life.

In the two-income, solid-state, digital, cyberspace world of more affluent suburbs, a beeper has become the '90s equivalent of milk and cookies.

Mom taps in 080808 and the kid is flush with electronic hugs and kisses. Dad punches in 87 and the kid knows he's going to get picked up late (just read the two numbers upside down: L plus 8 makes ``late').

Mom and dad, in the world of pagers, at least, are sort of the E.F. Hutton of telecommunications - when they call, you are obligated to answer.

``That's sort of the idea,' says Jackie Morck, 14, of Walnut Creek, Calif., who received her beeper as a birthday gift. ``That's one of the reasons they let you have one.'

Some teens consider that aspect of beeper ownership akin to wearing an electronic leash, but they all seem to agree the benefits outweigh any disadvantages. And even when they are complaining about the leash, they agree a pager may be the only way to stay in contact with mobile parents and wired siblings.

Among home phones, cell phones, office numbers, car phones and pagers, it is not uncommon for a kid to memorize a dozen numbers just to stay in contact with mom and pop. Toss in a few brothers and sisters, and a kid needs a mental phone book just for family.

While beepers are a great way for families to keep in touch, they also provide some new ways to deal with social relationships.

Several teen girls mentioned that they will often give their pager numbers to boys they meet. That way, they give no clues to where they live, but, at the same time, will give an admirer a way to contact them.

It can also be used as a way to get out of a boring or uncomfortable situation.

``Say you want to get away, you just make your pager beep,' says Jamie Scurran, 15, of Danville, Calif., ``then you go, 'it's my pager, I gotta go.' It works.'

This is not an uncommon use for beepers, according to Allison Kirsteen, a spokeswoman for Motorola, the company that owns 80 percent of the American pager market.

``I have heard of people getting out of meetings that way,' she says. ``There are many ways you can use them.'

It's a technology that has caught fire in the past few years. In 1992, 15 million Americans used pagers. Two years later, it was more than 30 million, and, by 2000, experts estimate, 50 million, or nearly a quarter of all Americans, will be beeper-equipped.

A poll earlier this year showed more than 20 percent of America's teens have used a pager at least once to stay in contact with friends.

Pager ownership is relatively inexpensive. Units are available from under $50 to well over $100, and operating costs, including a pager phone number and a number of pages, run roughly $10 per month, although lower prices are available if you shop around. (Often multi-year package deals or limited access arrangements are the best bargain, but they do tie you to a specific commitment.)

Like other technologies, pager tech is galloping along. The pure numerical units have been replaced by alpha-numeric machines that allow brief messages to be typed in. And these are being usurped by beepers offering two way messaging (where you can respond to a message with any of several preset responses).

But no matter what the technology, it's been adopted by youths as something necessary as expensive sunglasses.

``I pay for mine, myself,' says Chris Ahlman, 15, of Walnut Creek, Calif., ``It's cheap. It's a good way to communicate with my parents. And it's just a good way to stay in touch.'

A few examples of code words

Beeper users have found a way around the limited space available on a pager display screen by developing a number of codes that make numbers speak about as loudly as words.

While each group of pager users has developed a few numerical code words, a number of number combinations have become accepted as standard. Here are a few examples:

0001000: I'm feeling mighty alone now.

0007: I've got a secret

099: I've got something to tell you.

1: You da man.

10: You're perfect.

11: You're perfecter.

1-8: I ate.

121: I need to talk to you alone.

10-2-1: It's possible, there's a chance.

1776: You're revolting.

100-2-1: The odds are against you.

21: Let's have a drink.

4: Let's play golf

54321: I'm ready to explode.

911: This is a big emergency, call now.

A number of codes are created from how the numbers look when turned upside down.

710: I'm out of gas.

07734: hello

87: I'm late

04-04-04: happy holidays.

Motorola has a laminated card containing pager codes available by writing: Motorola, c/o Geltzer & Company, 1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10019.