In further proof that time is cyclical, an actual new phone booth has been installed in the year 2026.
As ABC affiliate WCVB reports, the phone booth currently sits outside Pavement Coffeehouse in Boston and advertises the opportunity to “Call a Boomer.”
The phone booth was set up by the company Matter Neuroscience, and aims to connect and reduce the loneliness felt by people of the Gen Z and baby boomer generations.
If you pick up the phone, as Pavement Coffeehouse marketing employee Isabel Lemionet did, you’ll be connected to a resident of a senior living center in Reno, Nevada.
“He was just waking up, going out for a walk,” Lemionet says of her talk with Josh, who picked up on the other end. “He complained about the weather!”
“A lot of people feel disconnected from their communities and feel alone and upset,” says Calla Kessler, of Matter Neuroscience. “And all of these negative feelings cause a spike in our cortisol, which is our brain’s primary stress hormone. And so we’re trying to figure out a way that we can get people in conversation to find their common ground and connect with people they might not otherwise meet.”
We’re still left to wonder, though, could this all have just been an email?