‘What is this?’: Gen Z baffled over ‘strange’ hotel feature

A young traveller’s innocent query has left many who were born in the pre-smartphone era feeling extremely old.

A Gen Z hotel guest has left a lot of people feeling ancient after a discovery in their room left them baffled.

It seems the idea of a landline phone is a thing of the past, as the Zoomer appeared clueless about a “strange” wall socket in their French hotel.

The Brit shared a photo of the wall plate with a small rectangular opening in it and asked, “What is this thing?” on Reddit.

Including a coin in the photo for scale, the confused traveller pointed out, “It almost looks like the sort of thing that you slide a security chain into – but it’s nowhere near the door or windows”.

They mentioned that they travel “fairly extensively” but have “never seen one of these before”.

A Gen Z has been left confused by this home phone socket. Picture: Reddit

Older generations set the record straight

To those from the pre-smartphone era, it was immediately recognised as a landline telephone socket.

Aussies may not be so familiar with the sight, but the “prise en T” socket is similar to Australia’s RJ11 ports, designed for landline phones before mobiles took over.

Once a common fixture in nearly every home, hotel room or office worldwide, it’s now a relic unrecognisable to younger generations.

Aussies might be more familiar with Australia’s RJ11 ports. Picture: MJS Electrical Products & Supplies

“That’s a phone socket for landline phones,” one commenter pointed out.

“Damn, that’s hitting the getting old target really hard,” said another.

Someone else joked, “I’m feeling older every day … that was the socket used to plug landline telephones into”.

“Welcome to the 20th century,” quipped another.

People who recognised what it was have been left feeling old. Picture: iStock

The death of the home phone

Landlines were once a staple of everyday communication, but now they have gradually declined in use over the past 20 years as mobile phones became more affordable and widespread.

In Australia, this shift really took off in the mid-2000s.

By 2010, mobile phones had already replaced landlines as the primary means of communication.

According to a report from the Australian Communications and Media Authority in 2022, 63 per cent of Australians had only a mobile for phone calls at home and no landline, with younger Aussies aged 24 to 35 most likely to only have a mobile phone (82 per cent).

Some Gen Z folks are now reclaiming the land line. Picture/@skzzolno/TikTok

Gen Z bring back land lines

It comes as Gen Z have been buying retro home phones as a form of “vintage” decor, using kitschy landlines from shops like Urban Outfitters to decorate their homes.

As the younger generation has an affinity for making old things new again, such as bringing back the flip phone and digital cameras, the corded land line has also been making a come back, according to a report from The New York post last year.

A 24-year-old New Yorker said she’d always “fantasised” about having one in her room.

“It really bridges that gap between reality and my childhood fantasy. I feel like the main character in my favourite TV shows — One Tree Hill, The OC, Gilmore Girls — when I use it,” she said.