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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It’s 2024. Stop using that word. I know I don’t need to explain why.
Why idiot, imbecille and moron are okay but retard is off-limits? All of these words have been used in a psychological classification system in the past yet retard seems to be the only one people take issue with.
Idiots. —Those so defective that the mental development never exceeds that or a normal child of about two years.
Imbeciles. —Those whose development is higher than that of an idiot, but whose intelligence does not exceed that of a normal child of about seven years.
Morons. —Those whose mental development is above that of an imbecile, but does not exceed that of a normal child of about twelve years.
Edmund Burke Huey, Backward and Feeble-Minded Children, 1912
Stop arguing about what slurs are okay to use. The only rule around here is to be nice. If someone asks you to not use a word because it hurts them, the nice thing to do is to listen.
You could at least act ignorant rather than trying to logic your hatefulness
It’s more recent. Just the euphemism treadmill in action.
Basically, some people are clinically unintelligent out of no fault of their own, and we’d rather they not get caught in the crossfire when insults are being hurtled. The approach to that has been to try and avoid unintelligence-based insults, but it hasn’t worked, because it actually is just better to be smarter.
I don’t really have a better suggestion, though.
What makes you think I am cool with calling people hurtful names? Why are you trying to reason your way into using slurs? You can say what you want if you really want to die on this hill. But you aren’t immune from social blowback.
I can’t imagine getting so passionate about the ability to call somebody such a hateful term. But I guess we know a little bit more about what your priorities are. Though my guess would be that if I told you I was on the spectrum you would have a very different tone.
You’re free to go thru my post history and try to find examples of me calling people hurtful names. You just wont find any because that’s not how I behave and that’s not what my question is about.
My question is pretty simple; why this specific term? It feels so arbitrary. There doesn’t seem to be any logic behind it. I wont get mobbed if I call someone an idiot but for some reason retard is off limits. Why?
I don’t care about your post history. I am talking about what is in front of us right now.
Idiot is unkind and I personally avoid it but it is not on the same level and you know it. There is no debate here. You know what my argument is, you just don’t care. That is your prerogative. But you do not get to be shielded from judgment.
Clearly it is incredibly important to you to use ablest slurs. You go ahead and live your life the way you want. But you’re not going to get permission from me or anyone who objects. Welcome to social consequences dude I don’t know what else to tell you.
I feel like you’re completely ignoring my original question. Seeing that despite being controversial it has 12 upvotes and zero downvotes then maybe that’s an indication that it’s a valid question and I’m not the only one wondering the same thing.
If barely double digit vote counts are how you decide what is right and wrong then we have nothing to discuss.
Mine above you is 42/1 (I’m willing to bet that 1 is you but I’m too lazy to check) so there you go. Stop using the term because the numbers said so.
Because language is fluid and changes with societal use. We don’t all defer to linguistic norms from hundreds or even thousands of years ago when literally everything about life would be alien to us now.
I’m sure you didn’t intend to post such a nice comment (based on the historical definition of the word)…
I 100% agree, but is there any way we could kind of keep working to phase out retarded from common vocabulary. It’s just such a charged and unnecessary word to use as a pejorative.
I would argue words change meaning and if you dont like that word you also shouldn’t use “stupid” or “dumb”. I’ve never heard anyone disparage a person with intellectual disabilities using that term so in my mind it just means… How should I phrase this for someone so sensitive… “Very much not smart”. Idiot should be fine since it comes from a word meaning “common person”. I don’t use the word anymore because i don’t want to push even sensitive people away, but I do think the whole thing is pretty silly.
It’s literally what everyone here called mentally disabled people in the 90s. And it was meant to be insulting.
Look dude it doesn’t matter what word you use, there will always be a word or phrase to convey the essence of what the r-word represents. Its all just a treadmil of expressions, you can cancel the r-word and then in 20 years we can have this exact conversation about “stupid” and “dumb”.
It does matter what words you use as evidenced by the fight you’re putting up to justify using hateful slurs. If it doesn’t matter than you should say to yourself “this doesn’t matter to me but it matters to others so I’ll be respectful and not use the word like an insult anymore.”
Would you walk up to somebody who is on the autism spectrum and call them that word? Are you seriously that daft? Do we have to get this basic about this because you can’t use your imagination?
Your response is flippant and I know even you could come up with examples where we needed to stop using a word and it was a good decision. But instead you are grandstanding and using absolutist language here because you want to win an Internet argument. For what? The right to use a hateful slur targeting people who have no control over something you are mocking?
You are welcome to use it if it’s that important to you. But you are not immune from social repercussions. And no, no one is going to grant you that. So live your life knowing you can be the hurtful person you want to be.
I am not reading all of that
Wow I guess what qualifies as a “wall of text” has really come down. You should probably just leave if that’s so threatening to you.
Give up trying to fight alongside people because there’s no way you’re gonna win.
Sounds pretty cowardly
Im too not smart to understand what you are trying to say
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Do you agree or disagree with the first sentence
That word hasnt changed meaning and people still alive now have been ridiculed with it. You dont get to reclaim slurs that you arent part of the community its aimed at. Stop using the word.
You dont know how not smart I am
Oh so you just say this to everyone to avoid conversation.
Got it. Another entry for the troll list lmao.
I already said at the beginning I don’t use the word, yall are so fucking sensitive. Get a life, touch some grass.
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Casual slur use is cool and normal
The article doesn’t offer a single statistic suggesting there is a resurgence of landlines, much less that Gen Z folks are responsible for it. It’s basically just a fiction piece.
Are you accusing the New York Post of not being hard-hitting journalism?
Dare I say, this news is falsified?
I don’t know why I’m surprised. I guess I just assumed there would be some link to reality.
Wired, VoIP phones are viable. Landlines aren’t. ATAs convert old landline phones into VoIP phones.
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
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
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.
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!!!
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.
You had me until this. For starters, that means no outlets can carry stories from other outlets, severely hampering the dissemination of information/stories/etc. You’d need like 8 subscriptions just to get a picture of what happened yesterday in your town, city, state, nation, etc.
Additionally, this heavily restricts the range of available whistleblowers/sources and how exposed they have to be.
it’s from the nypost - a tabloid rag from rupert murdoch - what did you expect?
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.
I still want to talk on the phone and I probably wouldn’t if it was like corded landline days when you were constrained to wherever the cord would reach. Cordless was freeing, and I’ll never go back!
There were cordless landlines for years. So you could go usually anywhere in the house or even into the yard a ways. But I can’t think why anyone would want to use something like that when you have cell phones. Large, comfy form factor I suppose.
Same reason I like running retro consoles/hardware. The process itself is part of the fun.
I look back fondly on the moments of “where is the phone?!” Because someone took it to their room to have a private conversation but then left it there on accident.
Still happens I guess, but where everyone has their own phone (not one shared for the whole family) it’s less frantic and thus less hilarious to me.
we still play that game. at least once every week or two, i’m calling a ‘lost’ phone from another or using the handset locator on a cordless system.
It’s not clear these people wouldn’t have a cellphone as well.
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.
I bet there are dozens of people doing this.
They are fun to slam down when you want to hang up on someone
40 years old. Haven’t been satisfied with a phone-slam since before my first cordless phone in 2001.
Yeah, angrily jabbing a phone screen realllllyyyy does not have the same satisfaction whatsoever.
I miss flip phones for similar reasons. I loved flicking them open and snapping them shut.
My last phone before getting a smart phone as a Motorola Razr, and man that one was so satisfying.
They made a new Razr flip. Though Im slightly skeptical on the longevity of slamming glass against glass hundreds of times. Still looks cool though!
It does look cool! I’m worried about that too, though. I would only be buying it for the “snap it shut” action, and it’s more expensive than any other phone I’ve owned. The original Razr was premium for it’s time, but that was when “premium phone” meant $300.
I had one of those see through phones back in the day. Loved that thing. But turns out the see through plastic isn’t as strong as the older style. Smashed it down too hard one day and the whole thing was destroyed.
The only right way to slam down the phone requires an old phone with actual bells for the ringer. You know you did it right then the bells ding at you.
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.
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
not a recommendation (I have not used any pulse to tone converters), but this may help you out.
Appreciate all the comments, its just a novelty at the moment but if we ever start to use it it would be for reservations only (and incoming only).
I love rotary phones lol. They’re so fun to play around with.
Mine can even still call out, but the router/modem doesn’t supply enough voltage (or current, not sure) so you really have to scream to be heard and only hear a faint whisper.
That looks like maybe the opposite of what they need, that says it doesn’t affect normal operation, just boosts the ring. That website looks like it’d have something to fix the issue though.
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.
Have you considered Bluetooth (or wired) earbuds? I can’t stand phone calls without them. Speakerphone makes me self-conscious in public and I can’t help but get shouty, and I have the same problem as you do with face-smush mode. But my Bluetooth earbuds are exactly how I want my phone call experience to be.
Okay but what do I do if I’m not wearing my buds when I receive a surprise call?
Unfortunately I’ve yet to find a pair of earbuds that doesn’t fall out or hurt my ears (or both), Either my ears are shaped differently than the average or I have to spend more to find the right pair. I would use headphones instead, but they’re hard to lug around and most work days I interact with customers so it’s a no-go.
Speakerphone makes me self-conscious in public
I would feel self conscious if people looked at me thinking I was crazy, talking to myself.
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.
In Australia both internet telephony and mobile are sometimes laggy and garbled. This never happened with landlines.
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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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.
Probably positioning. Land lines generally went the length of your whole face. The mic was angled and right in front of your mouth.
Might last a day or few if it’s even true. Just like how they were all ditching smartphones for Nokias recently.
There was a fashion about 30 years ago in the UK to convert old-style rotary phones so they worked with DTMF touch tones. I had a rather excellent original candle-stick style phone. Got lost in a move somewhere. Retro is always cool
I’m starting to view fads as a form of annealing. To knock ourselves out of local maxima, humans have an predisposition for finding a reason to go back and try old stuff again. If there was something useful to it, it’ll be reflected in the tools they create. I guess rebellion in general is just as evolutionarily useful as conformity. The Exploration/Exploitation dichotomy.
