We’re officially at the point where children and teenagers have never used or even seen a landline phone. Just think about it – a strong majority of households started ditching landline phones more than a decade ago, with landline phone usage starting to drop in the early 2000s.
And now that 2010 babies are starting to turn 13 in the next few months, there’s an entire generation of children and teenagers that never experienced life without a landline – the same goes with Dial-up internet. These technologies are foreign to most people born past 2005.
All they’ve ever known was cell phones, smartphones, and mobile devices, so the idea of needing to hook your phone up to the landline in order to use it is beyond their comprehension. In fact, they view it the same way we used to view technology in the early- to mid-1900s.
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That was on full display in this TikTok video shared by @lmhurd1. This house had not one, but two landline phones – one of which featured a rotary dial. We’re not entirely sure how old these two ladies are, but they’ve certainly never seen or heard of a landline phone – that’s for sure!
Here’s a look at the shocked reaction when they realize it still works:
It’s a wholesome and hilarious moment that shows just how far technology has come – not just in the past 100 years, but in the past decade. I mean, those kids were even shocked when it hung up – just think about how shocked they would be if they got to hold a Motorola DynaTAC.
Brief History of the Landline Phone
While Alexander Graham Bell is credited with inventing the telephone – and rightfully so – in 1876, the history of the telephone is a culmination of ideas that date back nearly 50 years. The 1880s saw expanded long-distance service and the 1890s introduced electronic dialing systems.
The early 1900s saw the invention of the coin-operated telephone and the ‘French Phone.’ By the 1950s, commercial mobile phone services were on the rise, but it wasn’t until the 1980s and 1990s that micro-electronic technology revolutionized the way we viewed telephone technology.
The rise of smartphones has been one of the most exciting and useful inventions of the past few decades. Companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, and more have continued to evolve the idea behind smartphone technology – something we all use in our day-to-day life.
Not only that, but microchip technology has brought us mobile devices of all shapes and sizes – with tablets becoming just as popular, if not more popular than laptops in today’s society. The things some of these devices can do is just incredible today, considering where we started.
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As technology continues to evolve, things like the landline phone and Dial-up internet will grow more obsolete and near-extinct. Moments like the one shared in the TikTok video above will become more common, so long as some of us keep those landline phones in commission!