Our recent discussions of new technology replacing old technology have really made me think about all of the developments that we have experienced in the past several years. We have transitioned from VHS to DVDs...I mean when's the last time you've seen a VCR? I know it's been years for me! From records to casettes to CDs, cassette players are no longer seen in cars and are scarcely still used. Big, thick TVs are no longer seen either, now it's all about slim and thin, the goal being to take up as little space as possible. It seems that things we use every day are continuously being replaced with newer, more advanced items. With that said, I ask the question, are cell phones on their way to taking over house phones? My aunt just recently moved into a new apartment and decided that was not going to use a house phone, she would just use her cell phone for all of her calls. When I asked her why, she said she felt that by having both a home phone and a cell phone it was a waste of money. She lives in New Jersey but works in the city so she is often traveling back and forth and whenever someone would call her they would call her cell phone figuring that they would not reach her at home. She found herself even using her cell phone more often than her home phone to make outgoing calls because it just became second nature to her. After talking to her it got me thinking... how many other people are beginning to realize the same thing? Will eventually everyone get to this point.. leading to the extinction of home phones? It seems that cell phones are advancing very rapidly and can do just about anything now. With the ability to play music, take pictures/videos, go online and that's just for just a basic cell phone, it seems as though home phones don't serve us much of a purpose anymore. Getting into the ability of a smart phone and even more advanced, the iPhone 4-the newest edition to the iPhone family , the possibilities are endless, there aren't too many things that it is incapable of doing. I do believe there may be a possibility in the future or possibly near future that we will all slowly stop using home phones and resort just to our cell phones. Besides the issue of possible reception problems, it seems like a fool proof idea, and I'm sure like everything else, reception will continue to improve over the next several years. So...will we still have home phones ten or twenty years from now?
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I agree with you, Stephanie... or I agree with your Aunt... Regardless of the person with whom I agree, I can't see myself ever having a landline in my house. Sure, if (one day) zombies overrun the world and knock out all the cell phone towers leaving me left without a land line to contact anyone in the outside world, that I guess someone can knock on my door and tell me "I told ya so." For right now, however, I do feel like it's a waste of money.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the "taking over the world" title, how else, or what else, are cell phones exactly replacing in one's day-to-day life?
I was really just referring to taking over land lines, but I guess you never know right?
ReplyDeleteI know some people that have gotten rid of their land lines recently. I see a land line as sort of a "safety blanket" in case my cell phone decides to go for a swim or get destroyed in any other fashion. It's just their for back up I suppose. Also, there are some people/places out there, like telemarketers, whom I'd rather not have my cell phone number.
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