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Everyone
has a phone in their pocket nowadays, but how often do we really use them for
their original purpose-to make a call? Telephone culture is disappearing. What
brought us to this moment, and what are its effects?
"No
one picks up the phone anymore," wrote Alex C. Madrigal on The Atlantic. The reflex of
answering-centu20th—telephonic culture—is gone."
The
shift is of course due in large part to more communication options: Texting
with photos, videos, emojis, reaction gifs, links and even voice messages can
be a more attractive option.
Texting
is light and fun, not nearly as demanding of your attention as a phone call. It
can also be done with multiple people at the same time. Social media, email and
video calls have also eaten away at traditional phone calls.
In
recent years, another reason has caused people to ignore phone calls
completely: robocalls. Robocalls are automate messages from organizations
verifying your phone number or telemarketers trying to sell something.
Americans received 22.8 billion robocalls halfway through 2020, equaling an
annual rate of 45.6 billion, slightly below 2018 numbers, according to YouMail,
a robocall protection service and blocking app.
As
telephone culture disappears, what is the loss of a singular family phone doing
to the family unit? Early landline phones unified family members, whereas
mobile phones isolate them.
"The
shared family phone served as an anchor for home," said Luke Fernandez, a
Weber State University computer-science professor and co-author of Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid: Feelings About
Technology, From the Telegraph to Twitter. "With smartphones we have
gained mobility and privacy. But the value of the home has been diminished,
as has its ability to guide and monitor family behavior and perhaps connect
families more closely," Fernandez said.
Of
course, as technology progresses, lives always change for better or for worse.
With the loss of telephone culture, families will need to find other ways to
unite.
