"Reach out," the old jingled implored. "Reach out and touch someone." That was the 1980s, and the metaphor of physical touch helped humanize the still-nascent technology of long-distance phone calls.

The move happened only about a month before Verizon’s announcement this week of a new “Number Share – Home” feature that allows Verizon users to link their mobile numbers to Alexa for $5 a month.

The first step is to pick an emergency contact from the list of contacts that Alexa drew from your phone’s address book (assuming you granted her permission to do so). Once you pick an emergency ...