Why do we still have phone numbers..
The Death of Phone Numbers: A Necessity of the Past?
I recently got a new phone and switched carriers, and during the process, they asked me if I wanted to keep my old number or get a new one. It got me thinking - why do I need a phone number? Can't I just log into my social media apps in Gmail and forget about it? I don't think so. I believe that phone numbers are unnecessary and should be a thing of the past.
We got our first telephone numbers back in 1876, when Alexander Bell invented the first telephone. At that time, switchboards were not as advanced as they are today, and we needed phone numbers to identify who was calling whom. But times have changed since then. With the advent of smartphones, which are far more than just phones, why do we still need phone numbers? The truth is, our phones are linked to our most important device - our smart phones.
Think about all the things you do on your phone every day. You use it for mobile banking, social media, and authentication. Your phone number is tied to these activities, and without it, you wouldn't be able to log into any of them. But what happens if you break or lose your phone? You're basically unreachable until you get a new one. And that's not all - you can't even authenticate yourself online unless you have access to your phone. This is where sim swapping scams come in. Scammers can trick their way into your sim card, which has your number on it, and then you're left with no way to verify who's calling you or what's going on.
The last time I received a spam call was recently. The Washington Post reported that in 2018 alone, Americans received over 26 billion spam calls. That's like one spam call for every two people in the country! It's overwhelming, and it shows us just how much our lives are impacted by phone numbers. But we're not even using them to their full potential. There are social media apps like Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram that already use voice over internet protocol (VoIP) or other technologies to make calls.
Google alone has 50 different services that use VoIP or similar technology to make calls. That's a lot of technology being wasted on something as simple as phone numbers. Why bother with phone numbers when we can just talk straight over the internet? Tech has come a long way since the days of switchboards, and now we communicate over the internet just as much as we do over our mobile networks.
So why are phone numbers still around? They're still forced upon us every time we open up a new line. Phone numbers were created to solve a specific problem back in the day - but that problem doesn't exist anymore. We've outgrown them, and it's time to move on. I believe that one day, we'll have something new and better that won't make our phone experience worse than it is today.
If you're inspired by this article and want to contribute to the creation of a new system that replaces phone numbers with something better, then go for it! The more people who join in on this movement, the sooner we can say goodbye to phone numbers once and for all. And if you're still using phone numbers as we are now, just know that there's hope on the horizon.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso I recently got a new phone and switched carriers and during the process they asked me if I wanted to keep my old number or get a new one and it got me thinking why do I need a phone number I mean I'm just gonna log into my social media apps in Gmail anyway why do I need a number and I don't think you do I think phone numbers need to die when did we even get telephone numbers for that we need to go back to 1876 when Alexander Bell invented just getting not that far back but you do remember the original telephones right no not that one no not that one either yes that one back in a day we needed phone numbers because switchboards just weren't great but a smart phone is so much more than just a phone number now like I don't know about you but the phone app is probably my least used at I don't even know why I call it a phone when that's like the 20th most important function that it can do for me either way you're identifying phone number is linked to the most important device in your life your smart phone think about everything that you do on your phone from mobile banking to social media they're all tied to your phone for authentification and if someone wants to get access to your very public phone number sim swapping scams are a real thing and honestly they're not even that hard to do through a very not difficult at all process a scammer can trick their way into a sim card with your number on it not cool plus phone numbers are tied to a single device so if you break or lose that phone you're basically unreachable until you get a new one and not only that you can't authenticate yourself in order to log into anything try logging into your bank account or Twitter from some random computer without having access to a phone it's kind of a unless you've set up something other than SMS two-factor authentication and it's not even just that it's a security threat let me ask you what was the last time you received a spam call I'm willing to bet it was pretty recently the Washington Post reported that in the USA alone Americans received twenty six point three billion spam calls in 2018 to put that into perspective in 2018 the population of the USA was three hundred and twenty seven point two million people so if I do a little quick math in my head with no calculator at all I swear that means that on average every person in the USA received about math math math eighty spam call that year and that number is assuming that everyone in the US has a smartphone if you take into account children and some older people that don't have any smartphones that number per person is even more that's nuts but you know what can't happen if there are no phone numbers spam calls besides I kind of feel like we've all moved on from phone numbers anyway it's almost overwhelming how many other options we have for communication I mean there's social media apps like Twitter snapchat and Instagram messaging apps like Facebook Messenger kik viber and discord and there are even video calling services like Skype and Google Hangouts that all use this great new technology called the Internet instead of a phone number so basically all of our methods of communication have outgrown phone numbers I mean most of those services that I mentioned already use the voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP pel Google alone has like 50 I mean why even bother dealing with a phone number when we can just talk straight over the Internet Tech has got loads better since the days of the switchboard and now we communicate over the Internet just as much if not more than the mobile networks that our phones are linked up to even Wi-Fi calling is just a clever hack to get your phone number to make calls over the internet phone numbers were created for a very specific purpose a long time ago and they solve the very clear problem they were great sure but their usefulness isn't as clearly defined anymore yeah it's still forced upon us every time we open a new line phone numbers are a thing of the past and we need to let the past die I couldn't resist now we don't have anything better just yet but all numbers are clearly outdated and we could use something new that won't make our phone experience worse instead of better so if you're inspired to create something because of this video I want 10% and that should pretty much do it for this one thanks so much for watching let me know what you guys think do you think phone numbers are under way out or is there some hidden purpose that I'm missing and I completely overlooked I'm interested to hear as always follow us on all social media they're somewhere around here and subscribe to the YouTube channel if you haven't already I'm Adam Alina keep it locked here because we are your source for all things Androidso I recently got a new phone and switched carriers and during the process they asked me if I wanted to keep my old number or get a new one and it got me thinking why do I need a phone number I mean I'm just gonna log into my social media apps in Gmail anyway why do I need a number and I don't think you do I think phone numbers need to die when did we even get telephone numbers for that we need to go back to 1876 when Alexander Bell invented just getting not that far back but you do remember the original telephones right no not that one no not that one either yes that one back in a day we needed phone numbers because switchboards just weren't great but a smart phone is so much more than just a phone number now like I don't know about you but the phone app is probably my least used at I don't even know why I call it a phone when that's like the 20th most important function that it can do for me either way you're identifying phone number is linked to the most important device in your life your smart phone think about everything that you do on your phone from mobile banking to social media they're all tied to your phone for authentification and if someone wants to get access to your very public phone number sim swapping scams are a real thing and honestly they're not even that hard to do through a very not difficult at all process a scammer can trick their way into a sim card with your number on it not cool plus phone numbers are tied to a single device so if you break or lose that phone you're basically unreachable until you get a new one and not only that you can't authenticate yourself in order to log into anything try logging into your bank account or Twitter from some random computer without having access to a phone it's kind of a unless you've set up something other than SMS two-factor authentication and it's not even just that it's a security threat let me ask you what was the last time you received a spam call I'm willing to bet it was pretty recently the Washington Post reported that in the USA alone Americans received twenty six point three billion spam calls in 2018 to put that into perspective in 2018 the population of the USA was three hundred and twenty seven point two million people so if I do a little quick math in my head with no calculator at all I swear that means that on average every person in the USA received about math math math eighty spam call that year and that number is assuming that everyone in the US has a smartphone if you take into account children and some older people that don't have any smartphones that number per person is even more that's nuts but you know what can't happen if there are no phone numbers spam calls besides I kind of feel like we've all moved on from phone numbers anyway it's almost overwhelming how many other options we have for communication I mean there's social media apps like Twitter snapchat and Instagram messaging apps like Facebook Messenger kik viber and discord and there are even video calling services like Skype and Google Hangouts that all use this great new technology called the Internet instead of a phone number so basically all of our methods of communication have outgrown phone numbers I mean most of those services that I mentioned already use the voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP pel Google alone has like 50 I mean why even bother dealing with a phone number when we can just talk straight over the Internet Tech has got loads better since the days of the switchboard and now we communicate over the Internet just as much if not more than the mobile networks that our phones are linked up to even Wi-Fi calling is just a clever hack to get your phone number to make calls over the internet phone numbers were created for a very specific purpose a long time ago and they solve the very clear problem they were great sure but their usefulness isn't as clearly defined anymore yeah it's still forced upon us every time we open a new line phone numbers are a thing of the past and we need to let the past die I couldn't resist now we don't have anything better just yet but all numbers are clearly outdated and we could use something new that won't make our phone experience worse instead of better so if you're inspired to create something because of this video I want 10% and that should pretty much do it for this one thanks so much for watching let me know what you guys think do you think phone numbers are under way out or is there some hidden purpose that I'm missing and I completely overlooked I'm interested to hear as always follow us on all social media they're somewhere around here and subscribe to the YouTube channel if you haven't already I'm Adam Alina keep it locked here because we are your source for all things Android\n"