The kids these days are pretty excited by this cool idea they have. They think it would be great to have a phone that just stays at the house that anyone can use and that isn’t connected to the internet.

Seriously. I’ve seen the videos of young adults talking about how amazing this would be.

Since that isn’t possible, they are settling for these retro phones where you connect your smartphone via Bluetooth and talk with an old school corded phone. It doesn’t take pictures or connect to social media or anything. It’s just a phone and you have to sit or stand still to use it.

My tired little Gen X heart can’t imagine how we’ve reached this full circle moment but here we are.

I got rid of my landline several years ago because it seemed like an unnecessary expense. These days, I’m thinking about going back because I’m tired of having an iPhone in my hand all the time and it’s my only connection to the people who might need me.

As an only child with aging parents, it seems unwise to silence my phone at night. If they got sick and needed to reach me, this is all I have. As someone with apparent insomniacs for friends, I’m astounded by how much noise my phone makes in the night as they text or send social media messages whenever they’re thinking about it despite the hour.

Maybe a landline IS the answer.

Unfortunately, locals I know say they are getting letters from the phone company letting them know they will be shifted from landlines to internet based phones. This will be worse than useless to many who have held onto their landlines.

In my county alone, many of our residents live in hollows where cell service doesn’t go. Satellite internet is costly, unreliable and inaccessible in a power outage. This won’t help these people.

Anyway, everything old is new again. I guess. If you need a retro Bluetooth phone, they’re available online. This one is at TJ Maxx.