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TRANSITION: With the rising popularity of cell phones, more people are tossing their landlines aside.
By Mathea Elnar, Focus Editor
Since its creation in the late 1800s, the telephone has greatly influenced the daily lives of people by facilitating communication between individuals. For centuries, homes and businesses everywhere have relied heavily on this piece of technology to convey messages quickly and easily. Yet, with the rise of new technologies and the downward spiral of the economy, landlines may be following in the footsteps of film cameras and cassette tapes.
Most people today spend almost every moment of their lives within immediate reach of their cellular phones. As a result, the best way to contact a person would be to either call or text him or her on that number. So why would anyone call a landline phone that may or may not be answered? Why would you call someone for something simple when you could just text them instead?
A landline phone is much less practical than a cell phone. It cannot store numbers and does not have a speed dialing feature. Therefore, in order to make a call, one must memorize or record the number. With a cell phone, however, none of this is necessary. All the person has to do is choose the proper contact and press the call button. It is no wonder many people find themselves gradually drifting away from landlines. In fact, while the use of cell phones continues to rapidly increase, a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the same cannot be said for home phones. This report stated that in 2008, 20 percent of households in the U.S. did not have landlines. This reflects a three percent increase over the course of just six months. Yet this result does not come as a complete shock to many people. When asked if they believe landlines are becoming obsolete, Poly students had varying responses.
“I do have one, but we are thinking of getting rid of it because we don’t really need it anymore!” Soleil Smith (11) said.
“My family does have a landline and we still use it a lot,” Senghor Joseph (12) said.
However, businesses find their landlines to be a very crucial part of their companies. When a customer needs information or wants to place an order, the most practical thing for him or her to call would be a system of connected landlines. This allows for multiple avenues of service and simple call transfers through an organized system.
“I think land lines are still somewhat important because businesses and companies still use them. I don’t personally use them, but some of my family members do and it makes it easier to contact them,” Lesley Loucks (12) said.
In addition, families and older generations find a stronger connection with landlines than young people do. This is because landlines were more abundant throughout the lives of older generations than cell phones were. Therefore, these people have home phones and tend to use them more frequently than young people, who grew up around cellular phones. This was evident in the 2008 study conducted by the CDC which showed that one-third of people between the ages of 18 and 24 only have cell phones and that 40 percent of those between the ages of 25 and 29 possess cell phones as well. Also, families tend to have landlines to facilitate communication between large groups of people. For example, while a cell phone provides an avenue for direct contact to a specific individual, a landline can be used to contact an entire family unit. Any member of the family may answer and this may be ideal for certain situations and conversations.
“Though I think more people have cell phones, I don’t think land lines will become obsolete. My family has one and we still use it all the time,” Rakhee Uma (12) said.
“Cell phones allow you to contact the person you want directly, so landlines are an unnecessary expenditure of money nowadays,” Alejandra Perez (12) explained.
However, cell phones are not the only reason landline phones are dwindling in numbers. As the economy continues to get worse, people are looking for ways to save money and cut down on expenses. As a result, many households have decided to save money by removing their landline phones and only using cell phones.
It can therefore be assumed that as time progresses, landlines will continue to become less used. As people become more and more dependent upon cell phones, homes everywhere will no longer need landline phones.