Bernice Hudson remained calm when her cellphone lost service due to an AT&T network outage. Instead, she simply used her landline telephone, a device she is attached to and chooses to keep despite owning a mobile phone, to communicate with the people she needed to talk to.

“I don’t want to be misunderstood, I do enjoy using cellphones,” stated the 69-year-old resident of Alexandria, Virginia on Thursday when discussing the recent outage. “However, I still prefer traditional methods.”

Owning a functional landline sets her apart from others. In a technologically advanced United States, they are becoming a rarity, a relic of the past when being away from home meant being unreachable by phone.

As demonstrated by the outage on Thursday, there are moments when they can be useful. They were proposed as options when individuals were unable to use their cellphones. For instance, the San Francisco Fire Department advised on social media that those unable to reach 911 on their mobile phones due to the outage should attempt to use landlines.

In 2024, it is an exception in the United States.

In 2022, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that approximately 73% of adults in the United States resided in homes with only wireless phones and no landlines. Another 25% lived in households with both wireless and landline phones, while a small percentage of just over 1% had only landlines.

By comparison, in early 2003, less than 3% of adults resided in wireless-only households, while at least 95% resided in homes with landlines which have been in existence since Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in 1876.

Twenty years ago, landline phone service was the primary source of revenue for phone companies according to Michael Hodel, a stock analyst at Morningstar Research Services LLC who specializes in the telecom industry. However, with the rise of broadband internet access and various other methods of communication, it has now taken a backseat.

Nowadays in the US, landline phones are almost considered to be mythical in a country where using mobile phones to connect with desired individuals at any given time and on preferred platforms is seen as a crucial aspect, akin to a Constitutional right.

For the majority of age groups, the predominant mode of communication was through wireless devices, except for individuals 65 years and older. In this age group, it was estimated that less than half relied solely on cellphones for communication.

Rebecca Whittier, aged 74 and from Penacook, New Hampshire, is an example of these individuals. Although she has access to both types of communication, she chooses to primarily use a landline. She only acquired a simple cell phone for emergency situations while she is away from her residence.

She stated that she could be considered traditional and is not skilled with technology. Therefore, a landline phone is ideal for her.

What sparked the transformation? According to Hodel, it was the transition from telephones primarily used for voice calls to mini computers filled with data, conveniently carried in our pockets.

The debut of Apple’s initial iPhone in 2007 was particularly noteworthy. The emergence of smartphones fundamentally transformed the way people interacted with the devices they carried in their pockets. According to Hodel, the significant turning point was when the use of smartphones began to rapidly increase.

According to Brian Ott, a professor at Missouri State University, the incorporation of a new technology into society has a negative impact on the ones it is replacing.

According to Ott, the new technology teaches us to change how we use the old technology. This means that even though the old technology is still around, the concept of mobile telephony now applies to our entire society, including those who still use landlines.

According to him, the hasty adoption of new technologies can lead to its own set of issues. He mentioned, “Whenever a new technology is introduced, there is a tendency to quickly adopt it without fully comprehending its consequences.”

The power outage serves as an example. Although it was promptly fixed, it brings up concerns about the potential consequences if a larger-scale incident were to disrupt cellphones in a world where landline phones are not as common.

Hodel had doubts about the idea that individuals would be disturbed enough to reintroduce landlines and incur additional phone expenses.

Unless there is a serious issue at hand, it is unlikely that you will be motivated enough to take action and spend money on addressing it, according to him. He also noted that the constant and reliable connectivity we have nowadays has generally been enough to keep people content.

Unable to reword.

However, she stated that the reason for keeping it was due to the belief that one should always have a landline in case of emergencies like this. Although such situations are uncommon, they can still occur.

Source: wral.com