The Death of the Landline
Listen to a story about how the landline has changed over time and answer the comprehension questions.
The Death of the Landline
Listen to a story about how the landline has changed over the years and answer the questions. Use the transcript if needed.
Transcript
I finally bit the bullet last week and unplugged my landline for good. It felt strangely momentous, like cutting a cord to the 20th century. My kids looked at the handset as if it were a prehistoric artefact – they literally couldn’t grasp why anyone would want a phone tethered to a wall.
The thing is, for years, the landline has just been a conduit for telemarketers and wrong numbers. Whenever it rang, my first instinct wasn’t ‘Oh, I wonder who that is?’ but rather ‘Ugh, what do they want to sell me now?’ It’s a shame, really, because I have fond memories of those marathon teenage phone calls where you’d sit in the hallway for three hours. There was a certain weight to the conversation when you knew you were rooted in one spot. Now, we’re always on the move, multitasking while we talk. We’ve gained mobility, but I can’t help feeling we’ve lost a bit of that undivided attention.
