this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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Technology

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Gen Z is bringing back landline phones because they think they look ‘cool’: ‘I love to twirl the cord’ (nypost.com)
submitted 9 months ago by catculation@lemmy.zip to c/technology@beehaw.org
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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.

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[–] Trafficone 3 points 9 months ago

One thing people forget is long distance fees. Cell phones basically did away with long distance fees, and we're better for that. However, landlines have some notable benefits:

  • self-powered, you could call in a power outage
  • high fidelity, yeah it was bandpass filtered, but everything in that filter made it through
  • freedom of usage, it was hard-fought but you could plug anything into your phone line, from more phones to answering machines to computer modems. There was a whole market around "dumb shit you plugged into your phone line" products

We're still way better overall with cell phones, but something was lost to get them.