Why would they — they carry their own device with them and when it rings or beeps it's a call or message just for them.
There are no more houses or flats full of young people waiting by the phone for their boyfriend or girlfriend to ring.
There's no more mystery as to who could possibly be on the other end of the phone because their name and or photo flashes up on your mobile.
I suppose one good thing about that is if you don't feel like talking to a certain person you just don't answer.
The only people that phone me on my landline these days are my family.
But there is a problem with this way of connecting.
Years ago we had one of those phone indexes that had the alphabet on the front and a slider to move up and down to the person's details you (or in my case my mother) had neatly recorded.
Of course this was just numbers for family and friends — most of which you already knew off by heart anyway.
I still recall many landline numbers from my younger days but there are only two mobile numbers I can rattle off. The rest I have to look up in my phone.
If the number you were after was not in your little index, it was simple — everyone was in the phone book.
And that's where things are coming a bit unstuck with our new-age hip devices.
How do you find someone who doesn't have a landline? There is no mobile directory in paper or online.
Businesses are okay because most of them have a website with contact details.
But if you are trying to contact someone down the street from you because you have seen a burglar climbing through their window, even though you might know their name and address, how do your find their number if they don't have a landline?
It seems to me in the rush to become so connected we are actually disconnecting.
The other thing that bothers me about having no landline is this: What happens if there is some sort of natural disaster? Earthquake, flooding, you name it and we have seen it lately.
Every man, women and child in New Zealand, and there are millions of them, picks up their phone and starts calling or messaging family and friends.
The networks simply can't cope and they crash. Power cuts usually go hand in hand with civil emergencies so there's no way to charge devices.
A landline might be the only way we can communicate.
However, I don't think this is going to save the "blower" — it will no doubt end up on social media as a post with the caption: "Who remembers using one of these" or "Like if you know what this is".
I really don't like those posts because most of the time I do know what they are.
■Linda Hall is assistant editor of Hawke's Bay Today
