I think I was 15 when I got a beeper? It was translucent green plastic, clipped inside the baggy khaki pants of my school uniform. Surfing the web to find lists of beeper codes, trading beeper numbers with friends, sending them "secret" numeric messages. Learning about hacking and how to intercept or transmit beeper messages (and not being able to, but still finding it cool).

Nobody thought me or any of my private school friends were drug dealers for having beepers. They just thought the beepers were a distraction, and not allowed in class. I don't remember them being banned but they might have been eventually.