Facepalmingly Unsurprising News of the Day: Land Lines Are Dead

I actually talk about this often with friends: how it’s interesting that nobody seemed to notice when the shorthand ‘phone’ became a term for cellphones, and ‘home phone’ now needs clarification when (and if) used in general conversation. Well, it seems those home phones are on their last legs. Researchers for the NCHS have discovered in a recent study that… brace for it… seriously, hold on to your hat. Do you have a weak heart? I’d advise you to leave the room for this one. Alright, here goes… Land lines are going extinct. By all means, facepalm for a moment. I can wait. Seriously, though, apparently 52 million Americans now live in households without traditional, corded phones, and the numbers are rising. That’s one quarter of US homes. One in four. 25% Another 15% have corded phones, but don’t use them for anything. Meanwhile, all us tech geeks look up from our smartphones for a moment and give a collective ‘well, yeah‘. I sure hope they didn’t blow too much money on this survey. [Reuters]