Problem aware of the confused gene z Hotel Guest makes thousands feel older than ever: “What the hell is this?”

The innocent question of a young traveler about a strange wall hood in their French hotel suite has activated a wave of nostalgic panic online – with thousands admit that they felt ‘older than ever’ after reading.

The British hotel guest posted a photo of a wall plate with a small rectangular opening marked with the word ‘Legrand’ – a well -known French manufacturer of electric fittings – and asked: “What is this thing?”

The confused traveler shared the image with a euro coin for scale Reddit: ‘It almost looks like the kind of things you shove in a security chain – but it is not nearly near the door or windows.

“I am British and travel fairly extensive, especially on the continent, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these earlier.”

Born for everyone before the era of the smartphone, the answer was clear: it is a landline.

The device was once a common fixture in almost every house, hotel room and office all over the world.

But for younger generations it is nothing less than a relic.

“Damn, that hits the old goal very hard,” wrote a user.

The British hotel guest posted a photo of a wall plate with a small rectangular opening marked with the word ‘Legrand’ and asked: “What is this thing?”

“That is a telephone bus for house telephones. I’m not sure what the word is in English. Fixed phone? ‘

Another joke: ‘I feel older every day … That was the socket that was used to connect regular telephones. Welcome to the 20th century. ‘

The socket in question is known in France as a ‘price and t’ – a T -shaped telephone connection developed by the country and telecom service of the country.

Just as with the BT style of the UK or the RJ11 ports of Australia, it was designed for analog fixed phones before digital and mobile technology took over.

As soon as a lifeline for daily communication, regular telephones have slowly come out of use over the past two decades, because mobile phones became more affordable and accessible.

In Australia, the shift in the mid -2000s began seriously.

By 2010, mobile phones had already overtaken fixed lines as the primary form of communication.

Nowadays less than half of the Australian households maintain a fixed telephone line – with most of those used by older residents or for emergency services.

Once a life line for daily communication, regular telephones have slowly got out of use over the past two decades, because mobile phones became more affordable and more accessible

In 2022, data from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) showed that only 34 percent of households still had a telephone service for home – and many of them were bundled as part of internet plans instead of regularly using it.

One commentator best summarized the mood: ‘It is wild to think that children will not even know what a dial tone sounds today. In the past we stumbled over cords in the hallway, now you hardly see a home telephone everywhere. ‘

While telephone cockets such as those in the French hotel room are still technically functional – and in some features can even connect to a working line – their presence today is more often decorative or remaining from another era.

As an Aussie said wrigently: “It’s official. We are old. The fixed line is now a museum piece. ‘