House Phone
I keep telling people about how strange it feels to have a land line. Like millions of unhappy AT&T customers I now have to pay an extra $25 a month because my iPhone is so inconsistent in my apartment that I was about ready to lose my mind.
Anyway, I’ve been amazed at what a profound effect on my psyche a couple cordless phones and a Vonage box have had. Mainly, I’ve found it makes me feel married more than just about anything else thus far. (I’ve cleared this post with my wife, so no one should be offended.) What I mean is that there is something about having a communal phone that makes an apartment feel like a home and really makes me feel like I have a family.
Growing up we, like probably all of you, had a land line. Grandma would call the house and while she may have been looking for Dad, she was happy to talk to my sister or myself for a few minutes if we answered the phone. This behavior, obviously, doesn’t happen on a cell phone, where all calls are definitely meant for you. It’s a personal device as opposed to a shared one.
Funnily enough I wrote about just this topic in 2004 for American Demographics in an article about cord cutters:
Historically, the home telephone has been something that signifies a relationship; it is a number shared among a group of people. “The land line for voice purposes is seen as the communal phone. A grandparent calls the house and doesn’t care who in the family they get,” says Mark Page, vice president of management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, which along with Cambridge University released the Mobinet Index 2004, which examines mobile technology trends around the world. “No one has come up with a communal mobile phone yet.” So, young people today are able to create their own identity completely outside the control of their families.
When I published the article 6 percent of households had only a cell phone, in 2008 The New York Times reported that number had risen to 17 percent and earlier this year that number had risen to nearly 25 percent. Obviously we have known about this for awhile, but I found it no less shocking how big it felt to add a “home” number to my cell phone’s favorites list. Funny how new technology can make old technology feel even more important.
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My wife and I have a land line for much the same reason, but at such time as we get rid of it I’m actually considering having a single Google voice (or similar) number that rings through to both our cell phones (and, in time, the kids’).
It’s not quite the same as the true shared number experience, but I’m reluctant to give up having a way for friends and family to just call any and all of us that might happen to be around.
Great insight. The landline is also a sign of trust and adds more opportunities for shared experiences.
Have always believed in the last point you make – how new technology makes old technology even more important. I find that when new tech takes care of some of the functions, the key function/value of older ones comes to the fore. I feel because of more digital technology, my analog moments are richer.
I love thinking about the consequences of using technology from a social, almost anthropological standpoint and you bring up some legit concerns here. As things become more personalized and niche due to the fact they now can be delivered and distributed in an efficient way, we all need to think about what might result from these decisions.
I liken this to how email has replaced snail mail and even though email is easier and sent directly to the person, we lose the moment of “Hey, grandma sent us a card for our anniversary.” that is shared between my wife and I when we check the mail.
As humans we’re almost always going to take the easier and more isolated way out if for nothing else than the fact that it causes less effort and interaction (even though I would say that this type of interaction is very healthy).
p.s. Just a heads up — I tried to submit this comment on my Android phone yesterday and for some reason it wouldn’t let me.