Calling all landline lovers.
Yep, me too.
I love my mother.
Credit: Michael Rayner/Fairfax Media via Getty Images
After the pandemic, I changed my tune.
It turns out there’s a place for old-fashioned phone calls in our busy lives.
Always Available
Don’t get me wrong.
We communicate with teachers, grandparents, friends, and coworkers all day long.
But that’s part of the problem.
Technology makes it easy to over-communicate and do it way too often.
If you are part of more than one large group text, well, the Lord be with you.
There’s no seeming end to our availability thanks to smartphones.
FaceTime and Zoom are godsends in certain situations.
And that’s all fine; it really is.
But I miss real phone calls.
I miss the quiet of just one person’s voice in my ear.
I miss having to really listen.
The bottom line is: There’s no mystery anymore.
I say this as a colossal oversharer who thinks mystery is sappy.
Phone Etiquette
There are alsono manners.
Now this is the part of the column where I morph into your grandmother, but so be it.
We need to bring backphone etiquette.
And to do that, we need to bring back landlines.
The important part is to have a more personal way to communicate.
Landline Benefits
I have a few reasons for wanting a landline, starting with safety.
A landline allows her to call me in an emergency.
I saw it on Instagram and reached out to ask why.
when someone picks up.
Talking on the phone is a learned skill.
But it will make them stand out someday," she said.
I’m hoping she’s right.
Phone calls also necessitateknowing phone numbers by heart, something lost in this age of technology.
What happens when a phone is lost and all of those unmemorized contacts go along with it?
She does text her friendswith emojis, evenbut mostly she prefers to talk.
I listen to her recounting our errands and what we had for dinner.
It’s basic stuff.
It’s been this way since I was little, when the phone was attached to the kitchen wall.
(They will be thrilled to know this, I’m sure.)
I will make the following promises, though.
I shall never refer to it as a “phone date,” which makes it sound like work.
I shall not keep them long, lest they never answer my call again.
And if they don’t answer, I shall not, under any circumstances, leave a voice mail.
Only my dentist does that.
