Seven years ago, a medical student asked me why doctors still used pagers.

I blogged about the reasons pagers were favoured — such as excellent reception in all parts of the hospital, including radiology; phone calls being more intrusive than a page; and group pages for events like codes being impossible via mobile phone.

I was criticised by several people who commented on the post and on Twitter. I was called a Luddite, and someone said: “Only pimps and plumbers still use pagers!”

This month, I decided to poll my Twitter followers to see what the current state-of-the-art is.