The loss of a family-household anchor: the home phone (2 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

Interesting piece here - and I agree that the landline did serve in that function. We had to learn to answer the phone on behalf of the household, not just ourselves. We had to learn how to speak appropriately and politely on the phone to someone we didn't know, or to our friends' parents. Parents could monitor to whom their children were speaking. We had to share this valuable resource.

But accepting these things to be true, is it realistic for households to try to resurrect these practices? Would a "use the landline only when in the house" rule work? Would pre-teens and teenagers accept this rule?

My tween will never know the sound of me calling her name from another room after the phone rings. She'll never sit on our kitchen floor, refrigerator humming in the background, twisting a cord around her finger while talking to her best friend. I'll get it, He's not here right now, and It's for you are all phrases that are on their way out of the modern domestic vernacular. According to the federal government, the majority of American homes now use cellphones exclusively. “We don't even have a landline anymore,” people began to say proudly as the new millennium progressed. But this came with a quieter, secondary loss—the loss of the shared social space of the family landline.

“The shared family phone served as an anchor for home,” says Luke Fernandez, a visiting computer-science professor at Weber State University and a co-author of Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid: Feelings About Technology, From the Telegraph to Twitter. “Home is where you could be reached, and where you needed to go to pick up your messages.” With smartphones, Fernandez says, “we have gained mobility and privacy. But the value of the home has been diminished, as has its capacity to guide and monitor family behavior and perhaps bind families more closely together.”

Full article at https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/12/families-landline-shared-phone/603487/

 

[zeetes]

we weren’t allowed to answer the phone anytime my dad was home, especially on-call days. armed with his strong work ethic, he was always afraid someone was going to ask him to come in.

 

[Zack Lee]

people today just don't know what living is...

 

[0rion]

Doctors used to drill holes in people's heads to relieve headaches.....not everything old is good.

Why would I give up a handheld computer with internet, text, and caller ID in favor of something that forces me to talk to people I probably don't want to talk to?

 

[superchuck500]

Doctors used to drill holes in people's heads to relieve headaches.....not everything old is good.

Why would I give up a handheld computer with internet, text, and caller ID in favor of something that forces me to talk to people I probably don't want to talk to?

I think you're missing the point - it's really only directed at the value of a house phone for family dynamics and preparing children for polite interaction with the broader world. And it's backed with observation and commentary from professionals. I don't think there's any articles in the Atlantic about what we've lost by no longer drilling cranial holes to relieve headaches.

And the idea doesn't suggest that people should give up their smart phones (except possibly for actual phone calls while at home), nor is it necessary to exclude caller ID from the landline's features.

 

[bclemms]

I think you're missing the point - it's really only directed at the value of a house phone for family dynamics and preparing children for polite interaction with the broader world.

I think you may be strengthening his point.

 

[Paul]

I think it’s a valid point by the OP. Growing up, we were taught manners and how to speak correct English, in addition to respect for our elders - often through our use of the landline phone.
Cell phones have certainly changed that dynamic - a lot of folks don’t care to talk anymore.

I heard some comedian say something to the effect of: “the phone icon is just an inconvenient app on my phone, and if you use it against me, I am furious.”

 

[SystemShock]

Doctors used to drill holes in people's heads to relieve headaches.....not everything old is good.

They still do. Not for headaches, but to relieve pressure.

Why would I give up a handheld computer with internet, text, and caller ID in favor of something that forces me to talk to people I probably don't want to talk to?

The article is not about giving up your tech, but about the lost dynamic the landline created among family members as well as the social dynamic of dealing with other certain people a certain way.

Kind of like the family dinner.

 

[zeetes]

"hello, this is the zeetes residence, may i help you?"

is now

"whodis?"

 

[Saint Jack]

They still do. Not for headaches, but to relieve pressure.



The article is not about giving up your tech, but about the lost dynamic the landline created among family members as well as the social dynamic of dealing with other certain people a certain way.

Kind of like the family dinner.

I don’t get this yearning to return to this sorta Norman Rockwell type of life.
I was born in ‘91, so I sorta remember landlines, but the majority of my life has been with cells. It’s made life easier.
Some things are better left in the past.

 

[Yatman]

Sorry, Chuck, but that genie's not going back into the bottle. I also don't believe that a landline would magically impart gentility upon kids who are often rude to their own parents.

However, if the apocalypse ever hits, folks in the know will yearn for their old Western Electric phone. Those things were bulletproof in storms and power outages.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Something something cursive writing

We get a new technology and it offers benefits and we adapt to it
Another streamlined technology comes along and offers more/additional benefit and we opt for that
Sure, more than likely something gets lost- we don’t write long letters that takes days to get somewhere and weeks to get a response- I’m sure there’s something lost in abandoning letter writing, but at the end of the day, meh

 

[kansast]

that we have to have a landline in order to teach manners is absurd. I get the idea, that it's a long gone tradition. I had a Myna bird back in the day, one of the things he learned to say was "hello.... STEVE!!!!!!" steve being my oldest brother who got plenty of phone calls. But I'm sure we can all think of a million other ways to bring our families together and opportunities to teach manners and politeness besides the Landline house phone.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I don’t get this yearning to return to this sorta Norman Rockwell type of life.
I was born in ‘91, so I sorta remember landlines, but the majority of my life has been with cells. It’s made life easier.
Some things are better left in the past.

Have you forgotten the magic of you and your siblings arguing over call waiting and sharing the phone?

 

[Charlie Brizzown]

My biggest memory of a landline phone was watching my father yell to my then girlfriend "He's not home. Don't call here anymore!". Good riddance twirly cord landline phone.