Anyone Else Having A Hard Time Giving Up Their Land Line Phone? I Just Can’t Cut The Cord.

The newest numbers suggest it's may be the end of the line for the land line phone.  Americans are increasingly cutting the cord and hanging up their land lines for good.

Ten years ago, nearly 93% of American homes had working land lines, now that number is down to 58%.  Meanwhile, the number of cell phone-only households is up to nearly 40%

And the digital divide seems to be defined by age - the younger you are, the more likely you are to live in a wireless household.  Sixty-five percent of 25 to 29 year olds live without land lines, compared to only 12% of those 65 and over.

Given all that, is anyone else besides me having a hard time saying goodbye to the "old gal?"

Even though everyone in our family has smart phones, we still can't seem to cut the cord on the land line, and I don't know why.

All I can figure out is maybe it's because of our older family members.  After all, how would Auntie Ruthie get a hold of us (even though I haven't spoken to her in well over five years)?  But, you never know - she may call!

I also wonder if it doesn't have something to do with the fact that I grew up on a farm, and the phone was really our only way of staying in touch with the outside world, especially when we were snowed in for several days at a time.  After all, we needed to call the cousins to see what the weather was doing at their place (even though I could actually see their farm across the section).

And then there's that memory of when Mom and Dad switched from the rotary dial phone to a push-button phone - WOW!  That was big news in the community.  That was like mowing your lawn diagonally - you were "Hoitie Toitie."

I also remember when mom decided to replace the phone cord with a longer one so she could be standing at the sink doing dishes while still visiting with Auntie Nannie.  I swear at times it seemed as though she had that cord stretched out nearly a quarter mile.

Who knows, maybe I'm just looking for excuses, but it's still hard to say goodbye!