Goodbye Landlines?

Amherst College is just a couple miles down the road from where I live - it's a small and well known college in Western Massachusetts with an enrollment of approximately 1,680 undergraduate students. Peter Schilling, IT Director at the College, has published what he calls his IT index in a blog at Academic Commons.

Schilling's post lists 30 indicators of technological change on the Amherst campus. You'll have to take a look at his piece to see the full list - here's my 10 favorites from his list:

1. Year that an incoming Amherst College class first created a Facebook group so that they could socialize and otherwise get to know each other prior to arriving on campus: 2006.
2. By the end of August 2008 the total number of members and posts at the Amherst College Class of 2012 Facebook group: 432 members and 3,225 posts.
3. Students in the class of 2012 who registered computers, IPhones, game consoles, etc. on the campus network by the end of the day on August 24th, the day they moved into their dorm rooms: 370 students registered 443 devices.
4. Number of students in the class of 2012 who brought desktop computers to campus: 14 (out of 438).
5. Number that brought iPhones/iTouches: 93.
6. Likelihood that a student with an iPhone/iTouch is in the class of 2012: approximately 1 in 2.
7. Total number of students on campus this year that have landline phone service: 5.
8. Average number of emails received per day: 180,000.
9. Percentage of email that arrives on campus that is spam: 94%.
10. Total number of alumni who have logged in to the College web site: 7,354.

Every single one of these makes me say - WOW. The one that gets the biggest WOW is #7. Only 5 out of 1,680 students have a land line......... I doubt these students will ever have or need a landline. Be sure to see Schilling's post and entire list here.