The landline phone call isn't as important as it used to be in our household. Photo / File
Once upon a time, the home phone was a staple form of communication.
If you didn't want to wait days or weeks for letters, the phone was it. Organising get-togethers, calling mates to help with homework, gas-bagging with friends and the phone calls to wish family happy birthday.
I do
sometimes wonder why we still have the good old landline telephone. For a select few, I suppose it could still be the main form of communication, but it has certainly been superseded by the mobile phone, then texting and, more recently, the various forms of instant social media chats.
Nowadays when the home phone rings, my wife, Katie, and I look at each other, daring the other to make the first move to answer what is 99 per cent likely to be someone trying to sell us some form of home heating, maybe various subscriptions, or even offering to help fix our computer.
In fact, I actually like the Windows help centre calls. I love playing along and letting them think they've got one hooked. Good fun. So our home phone is pretty much redundant. I suppose the downside of ditching it would mean maybe those phone callers turn into door knockers in the future, and that could be even worse.
