Additional Coverage:
- My 10-year-old was craving independence so I got him a landline. He’s already organizing his own playdates. (businessinsider.com)
Back to Basics: 10-Year-Old Embraces the Landline Life
In a world of smartphones and smartwatches, my 10-year-old son’s first phone is decidedly old-school: a vintage-style landline, complete with a curly cord and push buttons, mounted right on my office wall. While it may seem like a relic of the past, he absolutely loves it.
This simple device has become his portal to independence, allowing him to chat with friends, learn phone etiquette, and even navigate the occasional busy signal. For me, it’s a refreshing parenting experiment, a reminder that connection doesn’t require a screen.
My decision was partly inspired by my husband, a high school teacher who witnesses daily the downsides of smartphone overuse among teenagers. Seeing students glued to their devices, unable to communicate face-to-face, solidified my desire to delay my son’s entry into the digital world.
I also confess to being weary of constantly mediating his social interactions. I longed for the days when kids could manage their own social lives, a skill I mastered at his age thanks to our family landline.
My son, however, was eager for more autonomy. He wanted to make his own plans, and I wanted to empower him to do so.
Enter the landline, a time machine back to my own childhood. The first night, armed with a handwritten list of approved contacts, he eagerly dialed his friends.
We even practiced basic phone etiquette, a skill that, surprisingly, needed some coaching. Hearing him connect with his friends, their voices filled with genuine excitement, brought me immense joy.
A few days later, my son proudly announced he’d arranged a playdate, entirely on his own. While the last-minute nature of the announcement was slightly inconvenient, I was thrilled.
This was precisely the kind of independence I’d hoped to foster. His enthusiasm reminded me of my own childhood, when connecting with friends was as simple as picking up the phone.
That’s the experience I want for him – the genuine connection of a friend’s voice, not the distractions of digital chatter and online noise. This simple landline is helping him build that habit, proving that sometimes, less truly is more.