The Demise of the Home Phone

The DirecTV guy came Wednesday morning, surprisingly right on time! He rummaged through the rat's nest of various cableage that littered the back-side of my living room's flat screen TV. He fished out the now-defunct home phone line that sat unused since the last technician fooled with our TV hook ups. While changing out the broken DVR box, he looked at me like I was Fred Flintstone and said, "You know, Mr. Harvill, phone lines aren't necessary any more!" I didn't want to seem offended by his comment. But because I had made the decision last year to get rid of our land-line home phone, I wanted to confirm to him that I knew that already, and some of the evidence still lingered here and there.

Brenda was sweeping up the garage a few days ago and had several wireless phones wrapped up and ready to toss. My inner pack rat winced at the thought of great technology going to waste. I quickly gained control of my self and conceded that they had to go with the rest of the dust-covered garage litter.

Its sad that we are witnessing the demise of the home phone. I remember our family phone prominently place on the kitchen wall. My folks had a second one installed on my dad's desk in the den so we wouldn't have to run into the kitchen to answer a call. Phones were owned by the phone company then. I remember the first "Princess Phone" we had. It looked like something out of Disney's Tomorrowland. I can also remember visiting Disneyland and using the spacious phone booths at the exit to Circle-Vision. We all would cram into the booth, call home and marvel that we could hear and talk through some big speaker above without holding a receiver (that was very simple to do even then, but we were transfixed, nonetheless).

Phones were everywhere, and there was a phone booth on just about every corner. Brenda, upon the instruction of her father, carried a quarter in her pocketbook for years in case of an emergency (I remember when the cost of a call was a dime!). Poor phone booths...they are a boat anchor, like those wireless phones in my garage. Even homeless people manage to pull enough scratch together to carry a cell phone these days.

Cell phone rule! When they morphed into the super-duper smart phone, cell phones swept in and stole the market share for even home phones. People are still holding on to their home phones for use with alarm systems (there's even cell technology for that!). Some have a neurotic need to hold on to the past and will probably never part with their old land-line phone. It got to the point with me when I finally realized I was paying for something we never used. So we said goodbye to the old home phone number and embraced our cell phones as the sole means of phone communication. When I dialed 911 last month after having a car accident in North Carolina, I was connected to a local operator who hooked me up with the local police. My cell will work the same inside my home, too!

Goodbye, old friend. We will remember you fondly-- when we nervously picked up your receiver to ask a girl out on a first date; where we first heard that we got the job or that a loved one passed away. You will always be a part of our lives--its just that your sexy cousin, the cell phone, has stolen our hearts. Having both of you is kind of like wearing a belt and suspenders at the same time: its redundant.