Does your office have a fax machine? Mine does, but it sits forlornly behind our office manager day after day, going unused. The idea of a fax machine is kind of charming and quaint to me. National treasure Dolly Parton agrees with me on the virtues of faxing. Years ago Miley Cyrus said that she can only reach her godmother Dolly by fax, and that Dolly gets upset if people don’t respond in kind. Dolly just confirmed that this is her preferred way to communicate when she appeared on The View. She says she’s never gotten into the world of texting and email because she thinks it would take up too much of her time. Truly, I think Dolly made the right call here. This is probably how she is able to get so much done all the time–she does not have to deal with Outlook.
Dolly Parton has an unusual ― at least for 2023 ― method of keeping in touch with loved ones.
In an appearance on “The View” Wednesday, the “Jolene” singer said she’s “surrounded by enough people” as she explained why she’s cool with [faxing].
“Well, actually, I don’t want to get into that world. I’m surrounded by enough people,” said Parton in an apparent reference to modern ways to keep in touch such as cell phones and social media.
She later continued, “Kenny Rogers used to aggravate me about it. I said, ‘Look, I’ll send you a message by carrier pigeon if I need to get in touch with you and you always seem to know how to reach me when you want something.’”
Parton added that it would “take up too much of” her time if she tried to get in touch with everyone who tried to get in touch with her.
“So I just say, ‘Fax me. Fax me or call me and I’ll call you back,’” she said.
There is an adorable but super niche branding opportunity here for Dolly Parton themed fax machines. If it was pink and sparkly and had Dolly’s face on it, I would buy one as a collector’s item. My grandma would have loved to fax me, I think. This is the demographic to target, grandmas and granddaughters who want to stay connected in their own special way. Dolly, if you want to expand your merchandising empire into telecommunications, I will be your product manager. Dolly is in her seventies so it makes sense that newer technologies would feel like a hassle for her to learn. I mean, I’m only 30, and I have already flatly refused to get on the TikTok bandwagon. The chief reason is that I just don’t want to learn how to use another app. I love that Dolly forces everyone to communicate with her on her own terms. She is one of America’s greatest living songwriters, a champion for childhood literacy, and an icon. Dolly is allowed to be a diva about fax machines if she wants.
photos credit: Cover Images, Getty and via Instagram
Carina, this writing is a delight, lmao
Ha! Love this 😍
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She’s saving the hassle of texting with those nails!
I’m also smiling at the thought of how her Let It Be cover might have come together- Dolly faxing back & forth with Ringo and Paul.
Go go, Dolly! Hang on to your fax machine. Yeah, she’s earned the right to be a fax machine diva. Now I suddenly want a sparkly pink fax machine for my home office….
Dolly is my mom’s generation. She finally got a cellphone when she got lost at night and there was no payphone at any gas station (can you believe it!) to call us for directions. Never a smartphone. She didn’t need all that nonsense!
My grandmother, who would now have been 96, had a mobile phone, mostly in case her car broke down or she had an issue away from the house. I once spent a whole weekend when I was visiting her (she’d have been early to mid 80’s at this point) trying to explain text messages.
The phone needs to be on to send one. People can still send them to you when it’s off and they will turn up when you turn it on, they’ll hang around waiting for you.
And again, and again, and again.
I did not realize this was a wish of mine until I read the headline. Siggghhh.
I am almost 40 and refuse to do TikTok or Snapchat. I have a Facebook account but rarely use it. Instagram is ok but I liked it much better before it had so many reels. Maybe I am old school but I much prefer written communication as opposed to audiovisual. I think it has something to do with being neurodivergent but videos just overwhelm me.
Good for Dolly. You do you girl.
I’m almost 60. But my reason for not doing any of that is I basically don’t care about what everyone else is doing. The people that I know or care about call me or sometimes text. But not to really communicate. But to say their running late or what time I should get there. For some reason younger people honestly think they have 6 or 7 thousand friends because that’s who watches them on facebook or Insta. Those aren’t friends.
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