We are in the midst of a truly fascinating cultural shift right now:
We are losing the “family identity” that has been the main characteristic of telephony for the past 100 years.
Think about it… the other day we were at an evening event and met a great couple with whom we would like to stay in touch. We exchanged contact info and they, like so many people these days, have “cut the cord” and do not have a traditional landline but instead have individual mobile phones. The result is this:
I can’t call the “Smiths” and speak to someone.
Instead I can call “John Smith” or “Jane Smith”.
If I have a message I want to get to the family I have no simple way to do that. I can no longer call “the family phone” and leave a message on their answering machine inviting them over to dinner.
Instead I need to call one of the individual phones – and perhaps both to be sure the message gets through, given that cell phones can be lost or need recharging or that sometimes voicemail messages simply don’t get through.
And if a young child wants to call a young child at a landline-less home – and the receiving child doesn’t yet have their own cell phone – you have to guess which parent the child might be with.
Now, I don’t expect this situation to change. Two years ago I wrote at great length about why I was thinking of cutting the cord myself (and then about why I kept my landline). Last year I wrote about the decline in the landline business in North America and while I haven’t checked the most recent stats on landline decline, my own anecdotal evidence tells me that the decline is only continuing. I, too, continue to periodically re-assess whether I want to still keep the landline intact.
It’s interesting to wonder, though, what this means for the larger fabric of our society. Are there impacts as we remove the “family” identity and focus on our individual identities? How does it change the nature of communication between families? Or does it not really change things at all?
I don’t have the answers… this is probably a longer-term research project some graduate student needs to take on. Still, I wonder…
Meanwhile, since I know in one family that one cell phone died and the voicemail is full on the other phone, I guess I’ll have to forget about the phone entirely and just send them a message on Facebook… 😉
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Your post is timely, Dan. I am thinking of giving up my “family” landline because most of the calls I receive there are telemarketers, despite my entry on the Canadian “do not call” list. My teen children have their own cell phones, and I have a landline for my home-based office (which I will not give up) and of course my own mobile number, which I guard ferociously. To me, the downside of giving up the home landline will be the necessity to give out the mobile number to more people. (I abhor answering the phone while walking down the street, eating lunch or driving, which is illegal anyway.) Or else they’ll have to call me at work. I guess I’d like to streamline the phone situation AND avoid being interrupted. Not an easy task.
What about Google Voice? Set up a google voice # that rings all members of the family, transcribes voice mails to a shared email account..?
@Donna – Yes, that is the disadvantage of giving out a mobile phone number. I do mostly give out a Google Voice number (that’s the number posted here on my site) that I can then choose to either answer (if it’s convenient for me and I know the person) or let go through to voicemail and read the transcription in email.
@Seth – Yes, I expect that we’ll see more people doing exactly that. Establishing an “identity” using an abstraction layer like GV (or other similar services) and then ringing across all phones. Still gets a bit funky, though, with making sure that one of the phones isn’t set up in such a way that it winds up being where the messages get left (instead of the common voicemail box)… but yes, it’s definitely one solution. Will people care enough about having a common number to set one up like this? Will more services evolve that specifically market to this concept? (I know there are some already.)
I thought this part was interesting:
‘And if a young child wants to call a young child at a landline-less home – and the receiving child doesn’t yet have their own cell phone – you have to guess which parent the child might be with.’
But then I thought – both kids will have increased access to computers. Skype (or some equivalent) will take over the role of the family computer.