Final answer:
More than 60% of U.S. households do not have a landline-based phone, and this number is steadily increasing as people turn to mobile phones for communication, internet access, and various other functionalities.
Step-by-step explanation:
Today, more than 60% of U.S. households have no landline-based phone, and that percentage is growing rapidly as people increasingly rely on mobile devices. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that certain age groups show very high usage of cell phones exclusively, indicating a significant trend away from landline use. For instance, in 2020, 83 percent of Americans aged 30-34, 74.5 percent of those aged 35-44, and almost 60 percent of those aged 45-64 used cell phones exclusively. This shift reflects broader technological trends where people opt for the convenience and functionality of smartphones, which offer a range of uses from messaging, with 54 percent of mobile phone users prioritizing this use according to a survey from October 2020, to internet access, with the Pew Research Center highlighting that a notable percentage of minority groups are primarily accessing the internet via their phones.