The land-line world worked.
The world today is broken.
I was very late getting a cell phone, and I still don’t know how to use many of the functions; but I kind of like it. I can text my husband something without bothering him with his phone ringing at his work; every call I care about is ID’d, and if one isn’t I just don’t answer it. I can call a taxi or AAA if I’m out and something goes wrong.
I preferred landlines for sound quality, and when answering machines came along, I thought that was brilliant (I’m old). But the cell phones, texting, etc., only ‘break’ your world if you don’t decide exactly how intrusive you will allow it all to be.
That was before phone scammers abused the system. I got rid of my landline phone last year, because all I ever got on it were spam calls, despite using Spectrum's call filter settings. I'd turned the ringer off years before because I got tired of hearing it ring when these morons called. Even now, with cell phones, I get spam calls, political ads, and fraudulent texts. I don't use my iPhone for anything but calls and the occasional text from CVS Caremark for my scripts, and doctor appointment reminders. I use Verizon's call filter, which has filtered out a lot of the crap. I have it set to only ring when someone in my Contact list calls, but some junk calls still get through, although the calls are silenced. All spam calls and texts are immediately blocked, and the only time I answer the phone is if it's someone who is in my contact list. The Federal Government's Do-Not-Call List has never worked properly, and is nothing but a joke.