Assuming you are referring to phone books white/yellow pages, which do still exist - the major difference being of course that these could be trivially opted out of by calling the phone company. These days, you cannot come even close to reliably opting out of the digital “phone book” and it contains much more than your name, number, and address.
Mostly being facetious. But at the time, I never knew someone who opted out. It just wasn't seen as a danger. It was a great way to find Doc Brown or Sarah Connor.
