I know it might seem archaic with cell phones and cordless phones and headsets, but there's something about having conversations on a corded telephone that makes you feel like you have a actual connection with the person on the other end. Like the sometimes annoying cord that anchors the phone handset to the base, there's a definite physical aspect to it. When I was in high school and I was on almost constant lockdown, the phone was my lifeline to the outside world. Even more than IMs, if I didn't talk to anybody on the phone for a whole day it seemed like the walls would close in on me. The phone we had by the computer (where I spent almost all of my time at home) was always corded, along with the one in the kitchen. At night when I needed to talk to somebody, I would go downstairs and sit on the kitchen counter in the dark, while the light from the keypad would cast an eerie glow on the floor, along with the digital clocks on the oven and the microwave. I would leave the light off because my parents were light sleepers and if they noticed a light in the kitchen through their bedroom window, they'd strom downstairs and yell at me to go to sleep. They never liked the fact that I talked to people on the phone. To them, it took away from the time I was supposed to spend studying. They had this policy (which I never followed) of only staying on the phone for one minute, only enough time to answer a question or ask one. I would've seriously gone mad if they tried to enforce that rule. The more that I felt my growing pains, the more I needed just to talk to anybody who was awake. I remember nights when I'd be on the phone till 2 or 3 in the morning, sitting near the phone. I guess that's why I feel more connected with a corded phone. With a cordless phone or cellphone, you tend to move around and do other things when you talk. When the phone's stuck to the wall, all you get to do (most of the time) is just talk and listen, far less distractions than when you're walking around. The cord almost forces you to keep your attention on the other person on the line. You can isolate yourself to some extent and just... talk.

I think we could all stand to talk more.