To stave off smartphones, parents answer the landline’s call: ‘I can’t recommend it highly enough’

By Rachel Hutton The Minnesota Star Tribune MINNEAPOLIS Teenagers are generally obsessed with their smartphones So much so that Kristin Hatling s family lately encountered a gaggle of them who had brought their screens into a resort s hot tub My daughter who s was like Mom all they re doing is looking at their phones and like making kissy faces into them They re not even talking to each other While a majority of American -and- -year-olds have their own smartphones the Minneapolis mother of three is among a growing cohort of parents looking back to their own childhoods for a lower-tech alternative They re ringing up the landline the bulk households have now abandoned whose old-school handsets are so rare parents have to coach kids how to use them These modern landlines which are truly Wi-Fi-enabled home phones have proved popular One kid-friendly version the Tin Can is on a several-month backorder Millennial and Gen X parents who spent their teenage years stretching spiral phone cords into their bedrooms and talking until their receiver-ears burned are reviving the home phone to improve their kids communication skills without the risks a pocketful of internet can bring Hatling and other Minnesota parents say the landline has introduced their kids to the lost art of conversation given them more independence and helped them take responsibility for their relationships But first Gen Alpha had to learn Landline How to put your mouth near the receiver Initially Hatling s kids held their new cordless handset out in front of them as they did using FaceTime I was like That doesn t work You have to put it up to your ear she recalled And then when someone picked up they didn t say anything And I was like OK what you want to say is Hi this is Harper Is so-and-so there Early adopters hope to boost their landlines impact by encouraging their peers to stave off the smartphone and answer the home-phone s call We re trying to get a cohort of younger families that will buy into this so by the time they re in middle school and high school it s kind of the flavor and there isn t as much pressure to be throwing your kids into mechanism Hatling mentioned Smartphones downside The landline appealed to Hatling because she was concerned by research in The Anxious Generation connecting smartphones arrival to rising rates of anxiety and depression among teens Her own observations worried her too As a high school facilitator Hatling says she s seen smartphones negatively impact students well-being classroom performance and relationships Even in schools with phone bans she saw kids sneaking peeks at the addictive devices It s like having a handful of candy in your pocket she declared The tech gurus don t allow their children to use it that s saying something Hatling acknowledges there are good reasons school-age kids already have smartphones They can be useful tools But the more kids are surrounded by peers with smartphones the more pressure there is to want one and for parents to feel bad about their kid being left out To Hatling society bought into the apparatus a little too hastily We didn t really think through how that was going to play out in everyday life for younger kids With the home phone Hatling says her daughters ability to cultivate relationships without a parental intermediary has given them more independence and agency along with a greater sense of competence To communicate away from home chosen landline adopters also give their kids GPS-enabled watches or an internet-free dumb phone And there have been benefits for Hatling including not having to share her smartphone with her kids and lightening the mental load of plan-making logistics Texting vs calling These days Hatling no longer has to text her friend Elizabeth Temples to connect their daughters the two girls call one another directly Temples who grew up memorizing friends phone numbers and being annoyed by other family members tying up the line says it was fun to overhear the girls compare their first days of sixth grade now that they attend different middle schools Because there are parts of their day that your kid might not share you get a little glimpse into their world Temples declared Temples says her -year-old daughter in recent days called her out-of-state grandparents to initiate a birthday visit But she s been reluctant to use the landline to call her peers who have their own cellphones because the norm among cellphone users is to text She s like If I give them this number it could be really embarrassing like you might answer it Temples clarifies that she doesn t answer the landline People are not calling for me Real conversations Even kids too young to punch -digits are loving their speed dial-enabled home phone Zindzi McCormick of St Paul whose greatest teenage aspiration was to have a second line and a phone in her room has been teaching her daughters ages and the conversation norms and scripts of her childhood She s not available right now Can I take a message Her daughters mostly use the phone to call their grandparents to analysis their most of banal sessions They are very factual like I just woke up I m still wearing my pajamas Dad is making breakfast It s so sweet to hear what is on their minds The girls are more focused when they re on the landline versus video calls McCormick says where they re distracted by looking at themselves or fiddling with those emoji-face effects Related Articles Ariana Grande pop s Glinda s bubble in Wicked For Good Dear Abby Single son gets short shrift from parents Eddie Murphy to receive life achievement award from the American Film Institute KPop Demon Hunters is officially eligible for the Oscars Flying without a Real ID It could cost you and a trip through a new screening process McCormick s -year-old in recent times had her first landline-to-landline call with a friend to the amusement of both their mothers The friend s mom and I were texting each other on the side Do you have any idea what they re talking about It was like total nonsense McCormick noted how within one generation a formerly humdrum everyday activity has become a source of parental delight She especially enjoys how overhearing calls gives her a window into the significance her children place on things an adult might not bother to mention such as the mermaid theme of a friend s birthday party Total perk McCormick revealed of her ear-opening habit I can t recommend it highly enough The Minnesota Star Tribune Visit at startribune com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC