A pager (often called a beeper) is a simple personal telecommunications device for short messages. A one-way numeric pager can only receive a message consisting of a few digits, typically a phone number that the user is then requested to call. Alphanumeric pagers are available, as well as two-way pagers that have the ability to send and receive email, numeric pages, and SMS messages.

The first practical pager was introduced in 1950 by physicians in the New York City area. The first pager system had a range of approximately 40 km (25 mi) and the physicians paid US$12 per month for the service(around $100 today from inflation). The actual pager device was developed and manufactured by Reevesound Company of New York and weighed approximately 200 grams (6 oz).

Until the popular adoption of mobile phones in the 1990s, pagers filled the role of common personal and mobile communications. Today, pagers mainly support the "critical messaging" markets.

Paging is a subscription service offered in a variety of plans and options to meet the needs of a subscriber and the type of device used. In general, all pagers are given unique phone numbers while alphanumeric pagers are given an email address, usually partially consisting of the phone number.

Dalton Clark Conley (born 1969) is an American sociologist. He is University Professor (with appointments in Sociology, Medicine and Public Policy) and formerly served as the Dean for the Social Sciences and Chair of the Department of Sociology at New York University. He also holds appointments as an Adjunct Professor of Community Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and as Dean of Arts and Sciences (pro bono) for the University of the People. In 2005, Conley became the first sociologist to win the National Science Foundation's Alan T. Waterman Award. He is a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow.

He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Humanities, and from Columbia University with and an M.P.A. in Public Policy, and a Ph.D. in Sociology. He also holds an M.S. and M.Phil. in Biology from NYU.

Conley is best known for his contributions to understanding how socioeconomic status is transmitted across generations.