this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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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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[–] octobob@lemmy.ml 36 points 10 months ago (10 children)

This seems like a dumb tiktok trend or some shit. It's hard to get by in this world without a cellphone

But I just wish anyone would still want to talk on the phone. I love chatting with friends for an hour or so on the phone but everyone hates it now. Quick random texts just feel so much less personal. Ah well

[–] Uranium3006@kbin.social 30 points 10 months ago (2 children)

This seems like a dumb tiktok trend or some shit.

a lot of these articles are trash for this reason. most of it shouldn't be posted tbh

[–] admiralteal@kbin.social 16 points 10 months ago (2 children)

There's just zero merit to these "people on the internet are saying X" stories.

Nothing of value to sourcing a few retweets, ticktock duets, instagram stories, or whatever the fuck TMTMTM version of it you get.

Actual street interviews with random schlubs are far, far more informative than this crap. The internet is huge and you can find literally any opinions on it. Sourcing these anecdotes is absolutely the trashiest tier of journalism and anyone writing one of these stories should think hard about an immediate career change.

Run a fucking poll if you want to write a story about public opinion.

The world will be a better place the day after every serious news media organization leaves twitter and tells all their journalists they cannot use it as anything other than an original source to what a specific public figure has to say.

[–] admin@beehaw.org 8 points 10 months ago

The world will be a better place the day after every serious news media organization leaves twitter and tells all their journalists they cannot use it as anything other than an original source to what a specific public figure has to say.

YES!!!!!

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[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 10 months ago

it's from the nypost - a tabloid rag from rupert murdoch - what did you expect?

[–] BolexForSoup@kbin.social 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It doesn’t say anything about getting rid of their cell phone for one. The article says quite the opposite actually.

While Gen Zers definitely don’t need a landline — still relying on their cellphones for virtually everything — it’s the aesthetic of “2000s nostalgia” that makes the relic so attractive to them.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 10 months ago

It's not clear these people wouldn't have a cellphone as well.

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[–] averyminya@beehaw.org 25 points 10 months ago

Think about it - corded phones died because we needed to walk around and talk. I mean, you all remember how ridiculously long some of those cords could get so that people could do light chores. Then wireless landlines became a thing (and I swear the audio quality seemed to drop) and as cellphones became more predominant they were almost phased out entirely - certainly phased out of necessity.

But now two decades or so later we're just in one spot all the time again. If we're not at work we're at home and if we're not cooking or cleaning we're probably just in one spot (likely at the computer or the TV). So it makes sense to me, although I do wonder how much of this is more of a micro trend than Gen Z bringing back landlines lol.

[–] Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee 25 points 10 months ago

I bet there are dozens of people doing this.

[–] nossaquesapao@lemmy.eco.br 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Sometimes I wonder if some companies or groups are paying to publish "news" about genz using this or that, as a way to promote their stuff. It looks to me as a good and cheap tactic, since some younger people would look into the "trend", trying not to miss it, while some older people would look into it trying to stay "cool" and not look out of fashion.

But then I think again, and it looks like too much of a conspiracy theory. Why does my brain do that?

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[–] itsgroundhogdayagain@lemmy.ml 19 points 10 months ago (4 children)

They are fun to slam down when you want to hang up on someone

[–] GeekFTW@kbin.social 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

40 years old. Haven't been satisfied with a phone-slam since before my first cordless phone in 2001.

[–] detectivemittens@beehaw.org 12 points 10 months ago

Yeah, angrily jabbing a phone screen realllllyyyy does not have the same satisfaction whatsoever.

[–] Akuchimoya@startrek.website 8 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I miss flip phones for similar reasons. I loved flicking them open and snapping them shut.

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[–] Che_Donkey@lemmy.ml 16 points 10 months ago (6 children)

bundled in our internet is a landline....so we found a vintage rotary phone and hooked it up. We can receive but not call out. It's awesome.

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 15 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

If you're interested, these things will convert rotary pulses to tones and allow your old phone to interface with the phone system (and voip systems too)

Edit: nvm, someone beat me to it

[–] qprimed@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

not a recommendation (I have not used any pulse to tone converters), but this may help you out.

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[–] ThatFembyWho@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Not as strange or pointless as it might seem at first glance, I'm reminded of this article from years ago comparing the experience of a modern phone with the old handsets: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/08/why-people-hate-making-phone-calls/401114/

What does Gen Z suffer from even more than the rest of us? Loneliness, isolation. So using a phone that is designed with physical comfort foremost is a way of reclaiming a sense of social connection and physical touch ("reach out and touch someone"), even when distances between callers are great. And touching the cord, again, a way of feeling the connection with the other person, which in a world of wireless devices isn't possible -- there's nothing there but empty space. It's not just about twirling the cord.

This isn't to suggest there are no benefits to smartphones, and others here suggest earbuds to improve call quality and ergonomics. But the fact is modern smartphones are designed to do many things OK-ish in compromise, but nothing so well as the other devices they replace (phones, TVs, calculators - remember those?, flashlights, keyboards, etc etc.)

[–] SilverShark@beehaw.org 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Awesome grounded explanation!

And phones don't indeed replace many other devices. Like camaras too, for example. If you want to do really good photography, you actually need different kinds of lenses. Although lenses exist for smartphones, they are not that widespread, and using a camara is therefore still important.

Also a big point is the ergonomics of it. Handling a camara is much easier for long and complex photography sessions. Same with having a calculator at hand. It's easier to punch numbers in a physical keyboard. Or to handle a flashlight, or using a real keyboard to write a document. The list goes on and on and on.

[–] ThatFembyWho@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh yes, my phone is nearly impossible to use as a camera, between the inherently awkward shape, the case, and the long processing delay. Does it work? Yes. But it's not much fun. I love the ergonomic grip(s) of my DSLR and how every button and dial is in a natural position.

That's another thing we miss, plain old tactile feedback of buttons, dials, sliders, switches.

[–] SilverShark@beehaw.org 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

About buttons, it's also good they're going back on car interior design. Driving without physical buttons is just dangerous.

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[–] Ilandar@aussie.zone 14 points 10 months ago (9 children)

I don't get why millennials and older generations mock zoomers for these trends. What's wrong with enjoying old technology and childhood nostalgia? People are so needlessly petty when it comes to younger generations and their interests.

[–] peter@feddit.uk 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Considering that every single generation has nostalgia its baffling to me this is even news

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[–] IronKrill@lemmy.ca 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (13 children)

Article and trend aside, I actually do miss landlines... I have to do the "boomer" thing of talking on speaker phone with my phone out in front of me because no matter what I do putting my flat cellphone up to my ear is just impossible to hear and exceedingly uncomfortable. I miss the ergonomics of a real phone.

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[–] sunbeam60@lemmy.one 6 points 10 months ago (6 children)

My wife insists on us having a landline. She doesn’t know she’s running a SIP phone over the internet connected to a SIP trunk that has a local area number. She’s happy. I get to kill our landline.

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[–] echodot@feddit.uk 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Can we possibly have a better source for this "story". Because that one's not reliable.

Although in reality it's not really a story is it

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[–] neocamel@lemmy.studio 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Man there's something about talking on a cell phone that makes me feel like I have to yell, and thus, hate talking on them.

As I remember land lines, they never felt that way.

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