Landlines Aren’t Coming Back to Nepal—But Their Lesson Matters More Than Ever

Imagine a typical evening in a Kathmandu home: the family is gathered, but they aren’t truly together. A teenager is hunched over their phone, lost in the world of social media. The younger child is glued to a tablet, watching cartoons. The parents, after a long day’s work, might be on their own phones, scrolling through news or messages. Conversation, once the heart of the home, has gone silent, replaced by the hum of technology and a growing sense of digital distance.