The real death of mobile phone numbers

When I was growing up, my home phone number was three-digits long.

Those digits still form part of my parents' number and it is one of only two phone numbers that I can remember (the other one is my wife's).

How many phone numbers can you remember? Or do you, like most people, rely on your phone to keep track of them?

Phone numbers are increasingly becoming unnecessary and the main reason for their impending death is social media and messaging apps.

David Marcus, who runs the Facebook's Messenger app, listed the death of the phone number as one of five trends to expect in 2016.

"Just like the flip phone is disappearing, old communication styles are disappearing too," Marcus wrote in a blog post.

I doubt it will happen this year, but the humble phone number is becoming less relevant.

Many people now stay in touch by tapping on a friend's name in an app or on a website, calling them through Skype or sending an email.

The first to go will be landline numbers. I haven't had a home phone number for eight years, and many Kiwis are the same.

The 2013 Census showed the number of homes with landlines has fallen to 85.5 per cent in 2013, down from 91.6 per cent in 2006. With the rise of the smartphone and cheaper calling deals, there hardly seems a need for a hard-wired phone in your home.

ervices such as Skype and Facetime are contributing to the decline as more people embrace the world of (almost) free communication.

With mobile phone plans, data is now more important than free minutes as messaging and video calling become more mainstream.

The idea is that your email and social media profiles can replace phone numbers as a point of contact.

The biggest advantage is being able to find someone's contact information. Locating a friend on social media takes seconds as opposed to tracking down someone's cellphone phone number.

One of the internet's biggest achievements has been to make it easier to get, and stay, in touch with people. Make the most of it and don't mourn the death of the phone number when it finally comes.

Source: Stuff NZ