A TV show just broadcast used the "ding ding" sound effect when coins were desposited in a modern pay phone. The show was "Life with Derek"* shown on the Disney Channel.
What is interesting is that this show is meant for younger people who very likely never saw a or used a 3-slot pay phone, so they're not familiar with the coin drop sounds. Further, a lot of teens today probably never even used a pay phone because they have cell phones (in this episode's plot, the user didn't have a cell phone and was working to get one, thus her need to make a pay phone call.) Our local public library got rid of its pay phone because it was not used enough, when kids need a ride home they have a cell to call. (There are occassional requests for a phone, however).
I wonder what the market penetration of cell phones among teenagers is today. It seems every time I see a teen they're staring at their cell phone panel. (My cube neighbor yells at his kids for too much cell phone/text msg use and big bills).
Also in this episode the "ker-ching" sound effect of a cash register was used. This is a very common sound effect on TV when money is mentioned. But almost every cash register in stores for years is electronic. Indeed, the "ker ching" type of cash register was manual and not as widely used as electric registers. Many smaller stores or secondary counters in big stores did use a manual register (where the lever action of depressing keys worked the mechanism). The pre-record ".wav" sounds included with my PC included that sound.
Indeed, sometimes I wonder if some of the jokes on youth shows might go over kids' heads unfamiliar with culture history. For instance, in another show, during career day a 13 y/o tells of how "mama won't work for the man", which I thought was an expression of an older generation.
As an aside, about 25 years ago it was common for affluent families to install a second phone line for the kids to use (pre computer days, voice only). (In those days I remember senior citizens looking down at that as being decadent and reminding us that in their day they all shared the phone in the drugstore, if they had a phone at home it was shared with many siblings and a party line.) Anyway I wonder if families still bother with second lines just to meet voice needs or the cell phones now meet that need. Also, with DSL and cable modems, I wonder if people still have second lines for their computer.
*"Life with Derek" is about a teen girl who mother remarries and she now has to live with a very annoying step-brother. Import from Canada.