Land lines are going the way of the dinosaur

Don Estep is Publisher Emeritus of The News Journal.

As I was taking the wrapper off of a copy of The Real Yellow Pages that was on my desk this morning I couldn’t help from noticing how thin it was. Telephone land lines are diminishing fast.

Businesses still need land lines, but so many individuals have dropped them in favor of cell phones.

I can’t remember the last time I used a telephone directory to find a telephone number. It is so easy to ask Siri or go to Google to find a number.

Take out the lawyer advertisements and there would be very few ads in the yellow pages. Seriously lawyers, do you think that many people will see your ad in a telephone book?

Suggestion–this newspaper will have about 20,000 people reading it this week. We would welcome your advertisement in this more conspicuous publication.

And speaking of lawyers, I relish the days when they were not on our television screens. As they say on ESPN, “Come on Guys.” Just how many times must we see a big truck stopped by a hammer?

The Internet and technology has changed many things and the way we communicate is one of those. Some of us still remember when a telephone was used for talking to another person only. I like the text part of communicating now, but I can do without so many of the other attachments.

It is inevitable that when three or four people are in the same room the cell phone dominates. Conversations have been replaced by staring at the phone.

While there are many advantages to having this technology, I get the feeling that it has led to much of the divisiveness that we have in our society.

I wouldn’t mind it if the Yellow Pages were full of advertisements like they used to be. I would like for this newspaper to be crammed with ads, but unfortunately we have suffered the fate of the Internet also.

But the Internet does not bring you the local news. We are still the captain of that ship!