US EditionTo stave off smartphones, parents answer the landline’s call: ‘I can’t recommend it highly enough’
Millennial and Gen X parents in Minnesota adopt Wi-Fi-enabled landlines to reduce smartphone risks, boost kids' conversation skills, and increase independence, a growing trend in 2025.
- Millennial and Gen X parents in Minnesota are reviving Wi‑Fi-enabled home phones and kid-focused models like Tin Can, often on several-month backorder, to teach kids conversation skills and limit internet exposure.
- Citing The Anxious Generation and what she sees in school, Kristin Hatling links smartphones to rising teen anxiety, depression, and peer pressure, noting even tech gurus limit phone use.
- McCormick of St. Paul taught her daughters, ages 3 and 5, Landline 101, coaching them to use the cordless handset and enjoy speed-dial calls to grandparents and landline-to-landline calls.
- Hatling says the landline gave her children more independence and agency, while parents and families adopting landlines report lighter planning logistics and children initiating family contact.
- To change norms, Kristin Hatling and peers urge cohort adoption, supplementing landlines with GPS-enabled watches or internet-free 'dumb' phones amid Tin Can's several-month backorder.
46 Articles
46 Articles
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 recently encountered a gaggle of them who had brought their screens into a resort’s hot tub. “My daughter, who’s 11, 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 11-…
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 recently encountered a gaggle of them who had brought their screens into a resort’s hot tub. “My daughter, who’s 11, 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 11-…
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 recently encountered a gaggle of them who had brought their screens into a resort’s hot tub. “My daughter, who’s 11, 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 11-…
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 recently encountered a gaggle of them who had brought their screens into a resort’s hot tub. “My daughter, who’s 11, 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 11-…
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 recently encountered a gaggle of them who had brought their screens into a resort’s hot tub. “My daughter, who’s 11, 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 11-…
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 recently encountered a gaggle of them who had brought their screens into a resort’s hot tub. “My daughter, who’s 11, 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 11-…
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