Landline Phones: Because Vintage is Always Cool
If you have kids at home, get a landline. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
From Landlines to Smartphones
As a teenager I wore slap bracelets, owned a 20-disc CD player, listened to Jars of Clay, and had a part-time job at the mall. I picked out movies at Blockbuster and had access to my family’s cordless home phone.
I wasn’t allowed to call my best friend after 9 pm because that was considered rude. I worried about my younger brother listening in on my phone calls from the kitchen phone. And if a boy called me, there was a decent chance my father was going to be the one answering the phone.
A year before I graduated high school, I was given my first cellphone with 45 minutes a month.”More than one minute a day!,” my dad exclaimed. (Me talking to boys was clearly not a priority for him.) Before then, I exclusively used a landline. And y’all, it was perfectly sufficient for all my teenage social needs.
As I moved away for college, those 45 minutes turned into unlimited minutes after 9 pm and on weekends. (Remember those days?) Free long distance became the norm and my monthly bill went up a few dollars every so often. Before any of us realized it, dorm room phones were permanently left on the cradle and by the time I was renting an off-campus apartment with friends, landlines were passé.
Transitioning into the work force, getting married, and moving across state lines with my husband there were no headaches involved in getting a new phone number. We just took our cellphones with us. Not having a landline these past twenty plus years has been all well and good. Until a few years ago.
Like a growing number of families, my husband and I have chosen to have a landline in our home. For the benefit of our children, we spent $19 on a home phone and added a line item to our monthly budget. Here’s why you need a landline too.
10 Reasons To Get a Landline For Your Family:
1. Staying Home Alone
As kids get older, allowing them to stay home alone for short periods of time is a great way to increase independence and self-confidence. A landline provides a way you, as the parent, can stay in touch with your child without the dangers posed by an internet connected device. We know now that the earlier a child has a smartphone or tablet, the worse their mental health will be into their 20’s. Landlines are a much safer option.
2. Calling 911
Most likely, your family will never need to call 911, but in case of emergency, a landline is best. Ever misplace your smartphone? Or have a passcode on your phone making it inaccessible to your kids? We use this cordless phone and 95% of the time it is resting on its base. (There is also a paging feature from the base that sets off an obnoxiously loud alert on the phone itself making it easy to find in a pinch.)
3. Phone Etiquette & Communication Skills
Just like you remind children to say “please” or not talk with their mouths full, kids and teens need to learn communication skills through repetitive practice. Using a phone requires listening for verbal cues, minimizing distracting noises in the background, projecting your voice, and more. Teaching phone etiquette will aid your children when it comes to in-person communication as well. Plus, an overwhelming number of teenagers today who have grown up with smartphones are afraid to make and receive phone calls. This isn’t good.
4. Learning to Share
A single phone line for all family members assists in teaching your children how to share, exist within community, and to delay instant gratification. For example, if your teenage daughter has been on the phone for 30 minutes and your son needs to call his buddy for a ride to basketball practice, your children will be forced to work together to figure out a solution. This won’t always go well, and that’s okay. Working through these trials is an important part of learning to be an adult.
5. Landlines are Boring
Landlines don’t hijak the dopamine receptors in the human brain. Much has been said about teaching kids to use technology wisely. When technology is used as a tool to accomplish a task, not as mindless entertainment, we are on the right path to training our kids well. (Added bonus: a landline won’t ever show your son or daughter pornography.)
6. Landlines Give Autonomy
I don’t know how to say this nicely, but a bunch of moms planning get togethers for middle schoolers is just weird. Even 8 year olds are capable of planning time to hang out with friends. They are developing the skills of time management, navigating social expectations, and learning to work with others. What time can you play? Your house or mine? How long can you play? Want to ride bikes or go down to the park with remote control cars? The back and forth done over a phone is far more efficient and productive than texting. When kids can communicate and coordinate directly with friends, it builds important executive function skills.
7. Talking to Grandma
Give your kids the opportunity to talk to adults on the phone (even if they don’t want to)! It’s good for everyone. We live close to my mother-in-law and she lets them have treats I don’t allow. I’m pretty sure this is a Grandparent Right enshrined in law somewhere. In the summer, my kids will call grandma and invite themselves over for lunch (and treats). She loves it. They love it. Intergenerational time together is good for everyone. On occasion, my oldest son will call his uncle who lives out of state to talk sports. Sure, my kids could use my cellphone to make these calls, but there is something about a shared family phone line that makes these types of interactions far more common.
8. Your Child is Not a Neurosurgeon
Instead of buying your child a smartphone or smartwatch, remind yourself that you aren’t parenting a highly sought after neurosurgeon. Your child does not need to be available 24/7/365. In fact, always tethering kids and teens to a cellphone is proving to be dangerous for kids (and for their parents). Allowing kids to experience life in the moment, without distractions, is a gift GenZ is sorely lacking.
9. Teenage Babysitters
Need a babysitter? Hire a teenager.
wrote more about the benefits here. If you have a landline, you can ask the babysitter to not bring her personal10. Delaying The Worst
A landline allows you to give age appropriate freedom without inappropriate risks. If other families within your community don’t have a landline, that’s okay. Your child will be protected from the harms of an internet connected device and still be able to call any phone - landline, cellphone or smartphone. My teenage son frequently calls the cellphone of his friend’s parents. He is able to make plans with friends and I don’t have to worry about what he is seeing or being exposed to online.
Bonus Reason: Forgotten Homework
Do you have a child forgets to write down their homework assignments? If, by some small stretch of the imagination this was something I dealt with every few weeks with a child who will remain nameless, I would tell him he could use the landline to call a friend (or a friend’s mom’s cellphone) to ask a question about the assignment. I would be putting the responsibility of completing the assignment on his shoulders, not mine. It is not my job to text another parent about a homework assignment. This was normal when I was a child. It should be normal again.
Final Thoughts & The Co$ts
Dear Christian Parent, many people immediately say no to landlines because they are “old fashioned” but what if being retro is the truly the best thing for your kids? We’ve made mom jeans, dad beards and record players cool. Why can’t we bring back landlines?
The cost of a landline phone is less than $20 (in comparison to the newest iPhone for $800). Personally, we choose to bundle our phone service with our internet provider for less than $20 a month. Services like Vonage are as cheap as $10 a month. Or try Ooma which is $100 with a $0 monthly service plan (yes, $0). When you consider that multiple kids can share a line, the monthly costs of a landline becomes negligible.
And really, is an extra $40-100 a year too high of a price to pay to guard your children from the worst humanity has to offer via smartphone access? Look at the data and research about how bad smartphones are for kids. Then, tell me your choice. In 2024, we don’t have the luxury as parents of turning a blind eye to the dangers posed by internet-connected devices. Our kids need us, the adults, to make wise choices. A landline gives your children age appropriate freedom without inappropriate risks.
Join me in Richmond, VA. I will be presenting on the Parent & Caregivers panel in the afternoon. Hope to see you there! Register here.
