Landlines are ringing in homes again. Why parents are happy about that

By Kara Alaimo, CNN

(CNN) — Something unusual and exciting has been happening in Alison Lundberg’s household lately: Her landline has been ringing.

There’s “an actual thrill that runs through our household when the phone rings,” said Lundberg, a San Diego-based communications executive.

Part of the reason is that her family has no idea who’s calling since they don’t have caller ID.

It had been decades since Lundberg had a landline. She got one recently to protect her 4-year-old daughter, Ava, she said.

Last summer, Ava’s preschool camp did a lesson on safety, teaching her to call 911 in an emergency.

At home, Lundberg reiterated for her daughter that she should call 911 if someone’s sick, there’s a fire or there’s another kind of an emergency.

“All of a sudden, I had this realization,” said Lundberg, whose family members only had mobile phones. “How would my 4-year-old actually do that?”

So, Lundberg got the landline about five months ago. Now when she travels for work, she doesn’t have to worry about what her daughter will do if something happens to her husband.

But it’s not the only reason Lundberg is happy about the situation. She is among many parents who say bringing back landlines is benefiting their kids, making the adults nostalgic and bringing them all joy.

Staving off social media and improving communication

These days, Ava mostly talks on the phone to her grandparents, who all live out of state. Doing so allows her to manage her relationship with them, so her parents don’t have to schedule calls. Lundberg will still listen in from the stairs sometimes, “because it’s pretty hilarious.”

Fostering these kinds of connections means “there’s some joy” in having a landline, Lundberg said.

It doesn’t work as well when your kids get older if their peers don’t have landlines, which is why Lundberg has convinced some mom friends to join what she calls her “revolution.” Doing so will help her daughter when she’s older, she said.

“She will already be talking on the phone, and she’ll already be having conversations with her friends, and if we can get more friends talking on the phone, then hopefully we can delay” the introduction of social media, she said.

Kids are also learning how to have proper phone conversations.

Santa brought Eliza Bianco’s three kids, ages 6, 8 and 10, a landline for Christmas. Since she taught them how to hold the phone up to their ears and talk, they’ve been having “adorable” conversations with their friends, said Bianco, a public relations executive based in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Her kids have also learned phone etiquette, she said. Bianco taught them to say, “Hello,” or “This is the Bianco residence,” when they answer the phone. When they place calls, they have to say who they are and whom they’d like to speak with when someone picks up.

“It’s not a FaceTime,” Bianco said. “The name doesn’t just pop up.”

By doing all these things, they are learning manners and how to speak formally, she said. And her kids love it.

“I haven’t forced this one bit,” she said.

Recently, one of Bianco’s sons got into minor mischief at school with the son of Marie McCabe, a pediatric neuropsychologist also based in Saratoga Springs.

Afterward, the two boys spoke on their landlines and decided to apologize to their class.

“I don’t think they would have gotten to that” without the landlines, McCabe said. It helped that they didn’t have the “distraction of having a screen in front of them,” she said. The landline “just removes that, and it has been facilitating … genuine communication” and social development.

Should you get a landline?

Should you consider a landline for your kids? It depends, said Dr. Shayl Griffith, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of school psychology at Florida International University.

Start by coming up with a media plan based upon your family’s priorities and circumstances.

“Just jumping to the landline is missing the whole point,” Griffith said. Instead, think about things such as what your children want to get out of their media use and their vulnerabilities and social situation.

Landlines can be a way of fostering more independence in kids while protecting them from social media and the internet, she said.

However, using landlines isn’t going to give your children the skills needed to be safe and savvy when they go online later. You need a plan for developing this know-how. You can start with conversations about what they need to know when they eventually go online. Also monitor them more and have more rules in place at first when they do get smartphones, Griffith said.

If you want to use landlines to delay your child’s social media use, you may need to get the parents or guardians of your kid’s friends on board. If your kid’s friends don’t have them, it will be harder for your child to maintain social connections that way, Griffith said.

What if your kid demands a smartphone instead of a landline? Talk it through, Griffith said. For example, if your children want to participate in a group that’s only on social media, can they use your smartphone and account for that purpose?

For many families, fostering these types of meaningful and productive conversations is the point of choosing smartphone alternatives in the first place. If you’re not home when your kid starts asking to go on social media, you can have that conversation on the landline.

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