The Phoneless Phone Booth: Where, Oh Where, Have All the Phone Booths Gone?
Friday September 19, 2008
Their callers have turned to cell phones. That’s where phone booth callers have gone.
The phoneless phone booth in Chicago on Sept. 18, 2008.
Image © Adam Fendelman for About.com
While this certainly is a commonly accepted fact today and should come as no surprise to you now, seeing and snapping the image above with my cell phone truly solidified how much of a dinosaur the phone booth has become.
As of this very day, the phoneless phone booth pictured in this post still exists on a highly trafficked Chicago street. What a sight of the dramatically changed times, eh?
Want quantification? Here’s just one example from a New Zealand Herald article on Aug. 27, 2008 that’s headlined “Pay Phone Use Plummets as Cell Phones Surge”:
Image © Adam Fendelman for About.com
While this certainly is a commonly accepted fact today and should come as no surprise to you now, seeing and snapping the image above with my cell phone truly solidified how much of a dinosaur the phone booth has become.
As of this very day, the phoneless phone booth pictured in this post still exists on a highly trafficked Chicago street. What a sight of the dramatically changed times, eh?
Want quantification? Here’s just one example from a New Zealand Herald article on Aug. 27, 2008 that’s headlined “Pay Phone Use Plummets as Cell Phones Surge”:
In 2003, the number of pay phone calls in New Zealand peaked at 30 million annually.
Since then, it has dropped to just 12 million a year.
The number of phones has dropped from 5,000 to 4,000 in the same time.
Comments
Well, of course the usage has dropped – you can’t use what isn’t there. What happens to folks who don’t have cell phones (I imagine there are still some of those), or worse – what if you have a problem with your cell, and they tell you to call from a land line. What do you do, knock on someone’s door and ask if they have a land line and can you use it?