cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/10105454
• Gen Z’s nostalgia for the early 2000s is sparking a revival of landline phones, seen as a retro-chic escape from the digital age.
• Influenced by '90s and 2000s TV shows, young adults like Nicole Randone and Sam Casper embrace landlines for their vintage appeal.
• Urban Outfitters capitalizes on Gen Z’s love for nostalgia by selling retro items like landline phones alongside fashion trends from the '90s and 2000s.
Think about it - corded phones died because we needed to walk around and talk. I mean, you all remember how ridiculously long some of those cords could get so that people could do light chores. Then wireless landlines became a thing (and I swear the audio quality seemed to drop) and as cellphones became more predominant they were almost phased out entirely - certainly phased out of necessity.
But now two decades or so later we’re just in one spot all the time again. If we’re not at work we’re at home and if we’re not cooking or cleaning we’re probably just in one spot (likely at the computer or the TV). So it makes sense to me, although I do wonder how much of this is more of a micro trend than Gen Z bringing back landlines lol.
I’m starting to view fads as a form of annealing. To knock ourselves out of local maxima, humans have an predisposition for finding a reason to go back and try old stuff again. If there was something useful to it, it’ll be reflected in the tools they create. I guess rebellion in general is just as evolutionarily useful as conformity. The Exploration/Exploitation dichotomy.
Sometimes I wonder if some companies or groups are paying to publish “news” about genz using this or that, as a way to promote their stuff. It looks to me as a good and cheap tactic, since some younger people would look into the “trend”, trying not to miss it, while some older people would look into it trying to stay “cool” and not look out of fashion.
But then I think again, and it looks like too much of a conspiracy theory. Why does my brain do that?
I think it does work like that. Companies do spend money to promote heir products in non obvious ways. Nowadays Influencers use products even without stating that they are being sponsored. There were news that gas companies were paying Influencers to make photos cooking over gas stoves. This hangs also on the opinion many seem to have that cooking with gas is much better then induction or similar.
Companies also pay for “news” articles sometimes. Sometimes you see these “news” articles about the super innovative startup in your area that is about to unleash the next big thing into the world. You read and it’s only an article built on promises. No actual thing that is worth reporting as news happened, but the company is now featured in the news papers.
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I bet there are dozens of people doing this.
Man there’s something about talking on a cell phone that makes me feel like I have to yell, and thus, hate talking on them.
As I remember land lines, they never felt that way.
Probably positioning. Land lines generally went the length of your whole face. The mic was angled and right in front of your mouth.
Article and trend aside, I actually do miss landlines… I have to do the “boomer” thing of talking on speaker phone with my phone out in front of me because no matter what I do putting my flat cellphone up to my ear is just impossible to hear and exceedingly uncomfortable. I miss the ergonomics of a real phone.
Have you considered Bluetooth (or wired) earbuds? I can’t stand phone calls without them. Speakerphone makes me self-conscious in public and I can’t help but get shouty, and I have the same problem as you do with face-smush mode. But my Bluetooth earbuds are exactly how I want my phone call experience to be.
Unfortunately I’ve yet to find a pair of earbuds that doesn’t fall out or hurt my ears (or both), Either my ears are shaped differently than the average or I have to spend more to find the right pair. I would use headphones instead, but they’re hard to lug around and most work days I interact with customers so it’s a no-go.
Oh, that’s too bad. There are band-style or hook-style versions that could maybe help with that, but yeah most of them are buds.
One thing I’ll say is that when I used to wear wired buds, they would fall out all the time and I thought I just had weird-shaped ears or something… But when I got into wireless buds, I tried out a bunch of styles and found that without the cord, they stay in way more reliably. Wired ones would fall out when I turn my head or just walk 10 steps, but with wireless ones, I can shake my head or run or anything, and they stay in. I guess the weight/movement of the cord makes a big difference, at least for me.
I hadn’t thought about the wire affecting it, that could well be! Thanks for the input, I may have to take another look at some buds.
Speakerphone makes me self-conscious in public
I would feel self conscious if people looked at me thinking I was crazy, talking to myself.
Lol I’ve experienced that too, especially if they can’t see my ears.
Okay but what do I do if I’m not wearing my buds when I receive a surprise call?
I just pop em in then answer. Or answer then pop em in.
I keep my buds in their own case in a special pocket of my backpack. If I’m sitting at my desk and get a call, I need to pause what I’m doing, stand up, extricate myself from my work corner, go to my bag, open the special pocket, take out the charging case, take out the buds, and put them in. And I have to do it either in the 10 seconds I have to answer the call, or one handed while having a conversation.
Oh, mine live either in my pocket or on my desk in most cases, so it’s usually pretty quick. You can also start the call without them and then switch to them after a minute or two once you’ve performed the necessary extraction procedure.
wth. radiation proof? is this for visiting the chernobyl exclusion zone?
Haha I guess it’s just a weird translation
My wife insists on us having a landline. She doesn’t know she’s running a SIP phone over the internet connected to a SIP trunk that has a local area number. She’s happy. I get to kill our landline.
In Australia both internet telephony and mobile are sometimes laggy and garbled. This never happened with landlines.
Landlines also still work if cell and internet are out but power isn’t in an emergency, which I’d bet is why she wants the landline lol.
Most available “landlines” nowadays are just VoIP anyway tho. It’s why my dad got into ham radio.
Huh, TIL.
Landlines were self-powered. They did not require mains. But if the blackout was because a tree pulled down the power lines then there was a good chance it pulled down telephone wires too.
cell and internet are out but power isn’t
Though true, phones can also go down, I believe the point would be redundancy in case X works but Y does not. Though as someone else mentioned HAM is a better solution anyway, I need to finally get my technician’s license.
There was a fashion about 30 years ago in the UK to convert old-style rotary phones so they worked with DTMF touch tones. I had a rather excellent original candle-stick style phone. Got lost in a move somewhere. Retro is always cool
Might last a day or few if it’s even true. Just like how they were all ditching smartphones for Nokias recently.
My landline have been turned off completely.
I live in an apartment building that was constructed in '22 and a landline wasn’t even an option anymore, it’s all just gigabit ethernet.
You can get a VoIP phone that works over the Internet
Sure, but it’s not a landline anymore
They’re probably hooked on wired sets - not necessarily landlines.
You wanted to say that some gen Zers buy novelty Bluetooth headphones that look like a phone with a cord on it, right? Also: who still had a cord in the 2000’s besides super important business ppl?
They are fun to slam down when you want to hang up on someone
I miss flip phones for similar reasons. I loved flicking them open and snapping them shut.
My last phone before getting a smart phone as a Motorola Razr, and man that one was so satisfying.
They made a new Razr flip. Though Im slightly skeptical on the longevity of slamming glass against glass hundreds of times. Still looks cool though!
It does look cool! I’m worried about that too, though. I would only be buying it for the “snap it shut” action, and it’s more expensive than any other phone I’ve owned. The original Razr was premium for it’s time, but that was when “premium phone” meant $300.
40 years old. Haven’t been satisfied with a phone-slam since before my first cordless phone in 2001.
Yeah, angrily jabbing a phone screen realllllyyyy does not have the same satisfaction whatsoever.
I had one of those see through phones back in the day. Loved that thing. But turns out the see through plastic isn’t as strong as the older style. Smashed it down too hard one day and the whole thing was destroyed.
The only right way to slam down the phone requires an old phone with actual bells for the ringer. You know you did it right then the bells ding at you.
bundled in our internet is a landline…so we found a vintage rotary phone and hooked it up. We can receive but not call out. It’s awesome.
not a recommendation (I have not used any pulse to tone converters), but this may help you out.
Appreciate all the comments, its just a novelty at the moment but if we ever start to use it it would be for reservations only (and incoming only).
If you’re interested, these things will convert rotary pulses to tones and allow your old phone to interface with the phone system (and voip systems too)
Edit: nvm, someone beat me to it
Mine can even still call out, but the router/modem doesn’t supply enough voltage (or current, not sure) so you really have to scream to be heard and only hear a faint whisper.
That looks like maybe the opposite of what they need, that says it doesn’t affect normal operation, just boosts the ring. That website looks like it’d have something to fix the issue though.
I love rotary phones lol. They’re so fun to play around with.
